Vestas, others invest in wooden towers maker Modvion

A group of investors including the corporate venture capital arm of Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) have poured SEK 125 million (USD 11.8m/EUR 11m) into Modvion, the Swedish company developing modular wind turbine towers from wood.

Modvion announced the news on Monday, saying that the new capital was raised through an oversubscribed convertible note issue. Apart from Vestas Ventures, investments came from Almi Invest Greentech, the European Commission’s EIC Fund, Course Corrected VC and Symbia VC.

The Swedish firm specialises in the development of wood technology that can be used for the production of modular wind turbine towers. These are made from Laminate Veneer Lumber (LVL), an engineered wood product with a higher specific strength than steel.

According to Modvion, producing a wooden tower cuts emissions by 90% when compared to a conventional steel tower of the same height and load. Moreover, the modular nature of the product enables easier transportation and the subsequent installation of taller turbines. Naturally, this leads to increased power production.

The company’s next milestone is its first commercial installation of a 150-metre-tall wind turbine of 2 MW, which is expected to take place later this year. This will be followed by work on a 6-MW project.

“Modvion holds significant potential to increase sustainability within the wind energy industry. The modular tower technology also addresses a number of challenges when it comes to building taller turbines, which is an important element in producing the most energy,” said Todd O’Neill, CEO at Vestas Ventures.

(SEK 10 = USD 0.942/EUR 0.879)

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