The National Composites Centre (NCC) has welcomed Scottish Renewables to the SusWIND Steering Board.
The board is a collaborative program focused on creating a circular economy for wind turbine blades. Launched in 2021 by the NCC in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, the program focuses on working to accelerate technology development, processes and materials that address the recyclability and future development of composite wind turbine blades.
As Scotland’s renewable energy trade body, Scottish Renewables hopes to represent organizations working on a range of renewable energy technologies, including onshore and offshore wind.
“The U.K. is ramping up energy investments to accelerate and de-risk the delivery of renewable wind, with new onshore and offshore developments on the horizon,” says Phil Slack, head of Energy at the National Composites Centre.
“The industry must act now to ensure the growing supply chain is circular and sustainable by default. With steer from energy leaders like Scottish Renewables, SusWIND continues to facilitate transparency between partner OEMs and owner operators through solution agnostic, impartial and evidence-based recommendations to support educated procurement decisions that will reduce wind energy’s through-life environmental impact.”
Other SusWIND steering board members include The Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland, BVG Associates, RenewableUK, ZeroWaste Scotland, Net Zero Technology Centre and Vestas.
Composite materials are a key enabler for the success of wind energy and the role it will play in delivering a low carbon global economy. SusWIND expects to bring together stakeholders across the composites industry and wind energy sector to look at every aspect of the turbine product lifecycle to achieve a sustainable future.
