Ørsted, Vestas consider options for lower-carbon wind turbine components

Offshore staff

FREDERICIA, Denmark — Ørsted and Vestas have formed a partnership under which Ørsted will procure low-carbon steel wind turbine towers and blades made from recycled materials from Vestas for all their future joint offshore wind projects.

Although wind energy has a 99% lower carbon footprint than coal, there are increasing pressures to limit the carbon generated from the materials and components manufactured for use in wind farms, Ørsted said.

The company and Vestas plan to install a minimum of 25% low-carbon steel towers in their offshore wind projects.

Using scrap steel manufactured with onsite renewable electricity can reduce carbon emissions from heavy steel plates used in towers by up to 70%, they claim. 

Vestas and its partners in the CETEC project have developed a method of breaking down composite materials in both epoxy-based blades, with the recovered epoxy resin used for new blades. This addresses one of the industry’s main challenges: the need for recycling the blades in operation today that need at the end of their operational lifespan.

When the process is commercially ready, Ørsted plans to procure wind turbines blades made from recycled materials from Vestas.

06.08.2023