Manufacturing A blade’s
he wind industry has seen many firsts over its 130-or-so-year history. The first wind turbine to produce electricity, for example, was built in July 1887 by Professor James Blyth of Anderson’s College, Glasgow, Scotland. Constructed using cloth sails in the garden of Blyth’s holiday cottage in Marykirk, the turbine was used to charge accumulators to power the cottage’s lights, making it the first house in the world to be powered by wind- generated electricity.
As described in a paper to the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow on 2 May 1888, the turbine was “of a tripod design, with a 33ft windshaft, four arms of 13ft with canvas sails, and a Burgin dynamo driven from the flywheel using a rope”. It produced enough power to light ten 25V bulbs in a moderate breeze, according to Blyth.
The question of recyclability has loomed over wind turbine blades, as more and more turbines installed over the past few decades come to the end of their life cycle. Offering an answer at last, Siemens Gamesa have launched the world’s fi rst fully recyclable wind turbine blade – the aptly titled RecyclableBlade. Nicholas Kenny speaks to Gregorio Acero, head of quality management & health, safety, and environment at Siemens Gamesa, about this new technology, its development, and the potential it poses for the industry at large.
new world T
He would improve on his creation over the next few years, before settling on a final design that operated for a quarter of a century. Indeed, the turbine became efficient enough that Blyth would offer the surplus electricity it produced to the people of Marykirk to light the main street of the town. His offer was rejected, however, as the locals reportedly thought electricity was ‘the work of the Devil’.
While naysayers and nimbyism remain plentiful even today, the world has come to see wind power less as a force of evil and more as heaven-sent. In March 2021, a UK government poll showed public support for offshore wind at 76% and onshore at 70% – a far cry from Blyth’s time. But that’s not to say that it’s without its own problems – the devil, as it were, is in the details. Although the benefits of wind power are numerous and readily apparent, one
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World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
Siemens Gamesa
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