The blades of a wooden wind turbine developed by a Swedish startup are now rotating, powering 400 homes. And the company has exciting plans for the tower — and future iterations of it — to figuratively turn in another type of circle.
As detailed by Electrek, Modvion's wind turbine, located near Skara, Sweden, is the world's tallest made from wood, measuring 344 feet when not taking into account the highest blade (492 feet).
"Wood and glue is the perfect combination; we've known that for hundreds of years," Modvion co-founder David Olivegren told the BBC in December. "And because using wood is lighter [than steel], you can build taller turbines with less material."
"It's got great potential," Otto Lundman, the company's chief executive, said.
One benefit to the height, as the startup points out on its website, is that it allows the tower to generate more clean energy at a lower monetary and environmental cost.
Modvion notes that steel-made towers are responsible for roughly 1,400 tons of carbon pollution over their lifetimes because of energy-intensive processes, but a comparable wood tower produces only around 140 tons, and it effectively soaks up more carbon than it releases.
While it's important to ensure the world's forests are sustainably managed, with deforestation contributing to rising global temperatures, Modvion intends to reuse the tower walls "as high-strength beams for the building industry," per Electrek, completing the circle by doing its part to ensure vital resources don't go to waste.
"What we find interesting about this is that [it's a] combination of an economically viable solution that addresses the transport bottleneck and a sustainable solution," Jan Hagen, a chief technology officer for Modvion investor Vestas, told the BBC.
The startup has plans to build 100 of its innovative turbines annually beginning in 2027, according to the news outlet.
"Love the end-of-life use for these. Very cool," one person added in the comments section of the Electrek report.
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