Wind turbine giant Vestas has bought into Swedish wooden wind turbine tower start-up Modvion as part of plan to push down the carbon emissions along its value chain and become less exposed to volatile steel prices.

The Danish OEM said it made the investment through its recently established venture capital arm Vestas Ventures in late January, but declined to reveal the size of the stake it took in Modvion when asked by Recharge.

“Vestas Ventures was established to nurture innovation that can help accelerate the energy transition, and our collaboration with Modvion has the potential to support this journey,” said Bo Svoldgaard, head of innovation and concepts at Vestas.

“The modular nature of Modvion’s design approach, and the possibilities for increased hub heights could contribute to a reduction in cost of energy for Vestas customers, along with increased ease of transportation in logistically challenged markets.

“Introducing an LVL [laminated veneer lumber] tower variant could lead Vestas to become less reliant on steel prices, supporting our ongoing growth journey.”

Modvion specialises in the manufacturing of wind turbine towers made from LVL, a bio-composite material sourced sustainably from a supplier network, and validated to uphold robust reforestation strategies.

When compared directly with the value chain of a conventional steel tower, Modvion towers are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 80% for the wind turbine tower. The reduced weight of an LVL tower and lower CO2 intensity of the materials contribute to the overall reduction in CO² emissions.

Vestas said its investment is part of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions across its supply chain by 45% per megawatt hour delivered to the market by 2030. The OEM in the long term plans to integrate wooden towers into its design and manufacturing processes, and through its investment wants to support Modvion’s scale-up strategy.

Modvion last year won €6.5m ($7.8m) of funding from the EU’s EIC Accelerator programme to build the world’s first wooden wind turbine tower factory in Gothenburg, Sweden. Utility Vattenfall little later expressed its intent to potentially use Modvion towers at its wind projects.

“Cultivating cutting-edge technologies, such as Modvion’s LVL towers, can pave the way for building scale sustainably, particularly as the towers can integrate with our modularisation strategy,” said Lisa Ekstrand, head of sustainability at Vestas.

Wind

'Cultivating cutting-edge tech': Wooden wind tower start-up gets buy-in from Vestas