Swedish startup Modvion is behind the world’s tallest wooden turbine tower. Its designers see teaming wood with wind power as a winning combination
Swedish startup Modvion is behind the world’s tallest wooden turbine tower. Its designers see teaming wood with wind power as a winning combination
From the nation that turned the world on to flatpack furniture and modular design comes a wind turbine whose green credentials stand head and shoulders above the rest – because it’s engineered from wood.
Steel has been the go-to material for turbine construction for years, but it’s not without its limitations. The trend for taller turbines to capture stronger winds coupled with farms’ often remote locations adds up to a logistical nightmare, and that’s before you factor in the embodied carbon toll of steel production and the turbine’s massive supporting concrete base.
Enter Swedish startup Modvion, founded by carpenter and former boat builder David Olivegren (pictured above). Its towers are close to carbon-neutral and are built in sections from layers of spruce timber laminated together, making transport a comparative breeze.
The blades began turning on this 105-metre giant – the tallest wooden turbine tower in the world – near Gothenburg in December, and it’s now generating enough electricity to power 400 homes. Fittingly, it’s named the Wind of Change.
Images: Modvion
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