Siemens Gamesa has debuted the GreenerTower, a wind turbine tower made of more sustainably produced steel.
The company says tower production accounts for more than one-third of all wind-turbine-related CO2 emissions. If all towers installed by Siemens Gamesa in one year were exchanged with GreenerTowers, it would be the same as removing more than 466,000 cars from the roads for a year.
The new CO2-reduced tower will be available as an option for both onshore and offshore wind turbines for projects to be installed from 2024 onward. RWE and Siemens Gamesa have agreed to introduce 36 GreenerTowers at the 1,000-MW Thor offshore wind power project in Denmark. In total, 72 SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines are planned to be installed starting in 2026.
“We are already testing the world’s first recyclable wind turbine blades by Siemens Gamesa under real-life conditions,” says Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind. “By piloting the GreenerTower at our Thor offshore wind farm, RWE is now once again taking the lead by helping to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of wind turbines.”
German steel manufacturing company Salzgitter AG, with its heavy plate mill Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH, is the first supplier to be qualified “green” – which has also been reinforced by third-party certification. The process to produce greener steel entails increased use of scrap steel, less energy-intensive steel manufacturing processes, and an increased use of renewable energy sources. As one of the measures to decarbonize steel production, for example, the electric arc furnace will be fed with green electricity from offshore wind projects.
“With more than 600 GW of new capacity to be installed worldwide in the next five years, it is important for the wind industry to reduce its carbon footprint,” says Maximilian Schnippering, head of sustainability at Siemens Gamesa. “Our project to address emissions with greener steel is one such solution.”
For more information about the GreenerTower, visit this link.
