SusWIND aims for sustainable wind turbine technology

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The NCC has launched an initiative to explore sustainable processes, materials and technologies in the development of composite wind turbine blades.

Developed in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and supported by The Crown Estate and RenewableUK, the new ‘SusWIND’ initiative aims to ‘future-proof the turbine blades of tomorrow.’

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy, with predicted global capacity expected to reach approximately 5,000GW for onshore and 1,400GW of offshore capacity by 2050. The UK currently has over 14GW of total capacity, with 20 per cent of its electricity supply generated from wind power in 2019: enough to power more than 18 million homes and save over 29 million tonnes of CO2 annually. According to the NCC, the UK is on track to exceed 40GW by 2030. 

The NCC (National Composites Centre) has described wind turbine blades as the ‘bigger challenge’ in moving toward a zero waste outcome for the wind energy industry. Currently, around 14,000 blades are said to be reaching the end of their usable life and facing landfill or incineration. This creates over 50,000 tonnes of industrial waste.

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