![]() A standard 2-megawatt turbine is about $2 million, said Leo Wang, a wind analyst at BloombergNEF.Įnel expects significant cost reductions from using wood once a supply chain and economies of scale have been established. Lundman declined to say how much the machine with the timber tower will cost. The laminated lumber is stronger than steel at the same weight, so wooden turbines can be taller and support bigger blades (generating more electricity) while needing less reinforcement (saving on building costs), the company says. To scale up in the future, even more of the work would probably need to be done with machines. During a recent visit, workers used a measuring tape, nail gun and hand saw to get the pieces just right. Still, there’s also some old-style carpentry going on. Parts of Modvion’s factory are automated, with robots sawing notches into the ends of the modules so they can be slotted together like a jigsaw puzzle. By comparison, wood is a carbon sink – and renewable. Steelmaking is responsible for about 8% of the energy industry’s CO2 emissions, and decarbonizing will require trillions of dollars in investments. Yet it’s the numbers surrounding carbon-dioxide emissions – both in manufacturing and operation - that give wood a significant edge over steel. Modvion’s towers can be inspected by sending up a drone instead. The assembly process saves on future maintenance costs since the typical steel tower contains as many as 50,000 bolts requiring manual checks by workers. The modules are stacked on trucks at a factory in Gothenburg and then glued together on site. The tower walls may get thinner in the future as Modvion refines the technology. Modvion’s project outside Skara, Sweden, is made from Finnish spruce that’s laminated for strength and protection against the elements and fire, and then curved into four pieces about 30 centimeters (12 inches) thick. ![]() The Danish wind giant also will supply blades to crown the structure, which will be 150 meters (492 feet) tall when finished. The generator atop the timber tower will be a recycled Vestas V90 2-megawatt machine. ![]() “Many of our customers have proactively inquired to learn how they can be a part of Modvion’s journey.” “We expect our collaboration to increase,” said Todd O’Neill, chief executive officer of Vestas Ventures. Wind additions will exceed 16 gigawatts for the first time this year, with Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Finland propping up the estimate. Annual European onshore installations are predicted to surge by almost a quarter by 2030, according to BloombergNEF. Even as the wind industry is suffering from cost increases, supply-chain bottlenecks and financing problems due to higher interest rates, forecasts for growth are still huge as nations rush to meet ambitious plans for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.
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