Siemens Gamesa installs recyclable blades at Kaskasi offshore wind farm

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA (BME:SGRE) said today that it has installed and commissioned the world’s first turbine that uses recyclable blades at the 342-MW Kaskasi offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

The 81-metre (265.7 ft) blades are now spinning and generating power at the project site, located some 35 km (21.7 miles) north of the island of Heligoland.

Siemens Gamesa launched the first batch of recyclable blades for commercial offshore wind projects in September 2021. German major RWE Renewables, which owns the Kaskasi project, signed up to be the first Siemens Gamesa customer to use the blades.

France’s EDF Renewables and German developer Wpd AG were also looking to use the pieces for their future offshore wind projects, the turbine maker said at the time.

The recyclable blades are made up of a combination of materials bonded with a special kind of resin. Once the blades reach the end of their lifespan, resin and other materials can be separated using a mild acid solution. The materials can then find a second life in new products, such as suitcases or flat-screen casings, the turbine maker said.

Siemens Gamesa supplied 38 units of its SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines for the Kaskasi project, which is progressing through construction. A number of the machines will be equipped with B81 recyclable blades.

The Siemens Gamesa RecyclableBlade technology is also available for other blade sizes -- there is a 108-metre B108 blade for the the SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbine model, and the 115 metres long B115 for the SG 14-222 DD unit.

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