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Siemens Gamesa today unveiled the GreenerTower, a wind turbine tower composed of more environmentally friendly steel. Towers are made up of around 80% steel plates. When compared to conventional steel, the new GreenerTower will assure a CO2 reduction of at least 63% in the tower steel plates. Siemens Gamesa’s new rigorous qualifying method will ensure that just 0.7 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions per tonne of steel are authorised while keeping the same steel characteristics and quality
Siemens Gamesa announced the GreenerTower, a wind turbine tower composed of more environmentally friendly steel. Towers are made up of around 80% steel plates. When compared to conventional steel, the new GreenerTower will assure a CO2 reduction of at least 63% in the tower steel plates. Siemens Gamesa’s new rigorous qualifying method will ensure that just 0.7 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions per tonne of steel are authorised while keeping the same steel characteristics and quality.
“Wind power is one of the cornerstones of the green energy transition. 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. With the launch of the GreenerTower, Siemens Gamesa leads the efforts to further push wind circularity and net-zero emissions,” says Maximilian Schnippering, Head of Sustainability at Siemens Gamesa.
Tower manufacturing now accounts for more than one-third of all wind turbine-related CO2 emissions. If all of the company’s towers were replaced with GreenerTowers in a single year, it would be equivalent to eliminating more than 466,000 automobiles from European roads for a year. This new CO2-reduced tower will be offered as an option for both onshore and offshore wind turbines beginning in 2024.
The first order for the GreenerTower has already been fulfilled. RWE and Siemens Gamesa have agreed to install 36 GreenerTowers at Denmark’s 1,000-MW Thor offshore wind farm. The installation of 72 SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines is scheduled to begin in 2026. Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind said, “Offshore Wind already has one of the lowest life-cycle carbon footprints of power generation technologies. At RWE we are fully committed to working towards circularity and net-zero emissions. We are already testing the world’s first recyclable wind turbine blades by Siemens Gamesa under real-life conditions. By piloting the GreenerTower at our Thor offshore wind farm, RWE is now once again taking the lead by helping to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of wind turbines.”
The German steel production business Salzgitter AG, through its heavy plate mill Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH, is the first certified supplier, as confirmed by third-party verification. Greener steel is produced by higher use of scrap steel, less energy-intensive steel manufacturing methods, and increased use of renewable energy sources. The electric arc furnace, for example, will be fueled with green power from offshore wind projects as one of the ways to decarbonize steel manufacturing.
For every tonne of steel produced, 1.91 tonnes of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Siemens Gamesa considerably decreases the footprint of the biggest component in terms of CO2-equivalent emissions by establishing an aggressive benchmark of 0.7 tonnes CO2-equivalent emissions per tonne of steel.
