Siemens Gamesa said on Friday that the towers for its onshore and offshore wind turbines will be “greener” in the near future thanks to the use of more sustainable steel in their manufacturing process.
The CO2 footprint of the new “GreenerTower” will be lower by 63% compared to towers made from conventional steel. This will be achieved by making sure that CO2-equivalent emissions during tower production are capped to 0.7 tonnes per each tonne of steel, without sacrificing steel properties and quality.
Normally, conventional steel making emits 1.91 tonnes of CO2 on average for every tonne, which makes the manufacturing of towers responsible for more than one-third of all wind turbine-related CO2 emissions, Siemens Gamesa said.
German steel producer Salzgitter AG (ETR:SZG), specifically its Ilsenburger Grobblech heavy plate mill, is the first supplier qualified to make greener steel. What the process requires is the increased use of scrap steel, less energy-intensive steel manufacturing and a higher share of renewable energy in power consumption, the wind turbine maker said.
“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. Our project to address emissions with greener steel is one such solution,” said Maximilian Schnippering, Head of Sustainability at Siemens Gamesa.
The GreenerTower will be available as an option for onshore and offshore turbines for projects scheduled for installation from 2024 onward.
At present, Siemens Gamesa has one customer lined up to introduce GreenerTowers in a commercial wind farm. German energy group RWE AG (ETR:RWE) agreed to use 36 such towers at its 1-GW Thor offshore wind off Denmark, having already selected Siemens Gamesa as the preferred turbine supplier for this project.
RWE previously used a batch of Siemens Gamesa’s recyclable blades in an offshore wind farm in German waters.
