Partnership integrates recycled turbine blade materials into energy storage system

The EVx system developed by Energy Vaults. All photo credit: Energy Vaults

Wind power and energy storage have been brought together with the recent partnership agreement signed between Enel Green Power (Rome, Italy) and Energy Vault (Lugano, Switzerland). This partnership aims to integrate Energy Vault’s energy storage technology, EVx, which relies on the power of gravity and the movement of water to store and discharge electricity, with recycled composite materials from wind turbine plants.

Enel Green Power says it has been working for some time to identify strategies to effectively recycle and reuse of all components of these decommissioned wind turbines. The problem, however, mainly concerns the glass and carbon fiber turbine blades.

Custom-made composite blocks are developed from waste and remediation material such as coal ash and fiberglass.

One possible solution is the “shredding” of the obsolete blades to make products for other sectors, such as the construction industry or furniture manufacturing. Based on this experience, another innovative idea came about: the integration of composite material from former turbine blades into the blocks used by Energy Vault for its EVx system, a solution for storing energy employs purely mechanical technology that uses blocks of solid material as a storage medium. The benefits of this solution are said to be the same as those of a pumped storage hydro plant, but at a much lower cost, with greater possibility of being replicated in any geographical context.

“The use of this material gives the blocks greater stability and robustness, increasing their durability and further lowering costs,” explains Irene Fastelli, head of the Innovation Factory for the O&M and HSEQ functions at EGP. “The partnership with Energy Vault involves feasibility studies for integrating the composite material from Enel Green Power’s decommissioned turbine blades into the blocks used by the energy storage system.”

Marco Terruzzin, chief product officer of Energy Vault adds: “Our mission is to bridge the remaining gap in the clean energy pipeline by providing cost-effective and sustainable energy storage solutions, accelerating the usage of recycled materials for our units.”