Vestas to use greener steel for wind farm in the Baltic Sea

A new wind farm in the Baltic Sea, which will supply electricity to more than 1.5 million Polish households, will have turbines made from greener steel. The world’s largest turbine manufacturer, Vestas Wind Systems, has partnered with steelmaker ArcelorMittal and will use recycled steel for the first time to make the towers that support the rotating blades. These towers, which will be installed at the Baltic Power wind farm starting next year, will reduce supply-chain emissions by 66 percent compared with a conventional model, Bloomberg reported.

While the energy produced by conventional wind turbines is considered clean, building wind farms can be a „dirty“ process because it requires energy-intensive materials such as steel and iron. As governments and industries step up efforts to meet climate targets, the renewable energy sector itself is also coming into focus. The aim is to make it more sustainable.

„It’s a huge step forward,“ said Vestas chief sustainability officer Lisa Ekstrand.

„We have focused particularly on steel for a long time, because we knew from the outset that it was an important lever for helping the world meet its climate commitments and reduce emissions,“ she added.

More efforts are being made to improve sustainability from the very beginning of a turbine’s life, as well as to find new uses for it at the end of its life. One startup backed by Vestas uses wood to build towers. Others turn decommissioned blades, made mostly of fiberglass, into pedestrian bridges or park benches.

Vestas said it will source steel plates from ArcelorMittal, made from scrap at a Belgian plant using an electric arc furnace and wind power. Producing steel from scrap requires less energy than making new steel from iron ore. In Spain, the plates will be turned into heavy-gauge sheets, which will then be delivered to Vestas factories across Europe.

The greener turbines will account for about two-thirds of the 76 turbines slated for installation at the Baltic Power wind farm. Using low-emissions steel in the top two sections of offshore towers will reduce the towers’ total emissions by 25 percent. The reduction could be even greater for onshore towers, where the steel can be used throughout the entire tower. Producing greener turbines will take as long as producing conventional ones, but they will cost more, Vestas added, without providing further details.

The Danish company is also opening a blade factory in Poland, where it will produce blades taller than the Statue of Liberty. This is another sign that future demand is expected to remain healthy.

„We expect demand to grow,“ Ekstrand said.

„Sufficient demand is important to support further investment in a product like this,“ she added, but did not say whether Vestas was in further talks about supplying greener turbines.