Finding sustainable ways to recycle turbine parts is something we at Everun are always keen to do, so when we were asked to help with the Re-wind project we were happy to help. The project is made up of teams from Cork Institute of Technology, Queen’s University Belfast and Georgia Tech in the USA and is looking into alternative means of sustainably using decommissioned turbine blades.
Our Engineering team work on decommissioning projects on a continual basis and having recently taken down a N29 turbine we were happy to supply the blades for the project.
The blades were transported to County Cork for use on the Midleton to Youghal Greenway project. They will be used as the main structural element on a number of small bridges spanning the Greenway with potentially two blades lying apart horizontally, with a walkway in between. The blades may go through destructive testing to determine structural integrity with the rest being retained for the actual construction. The bridge will be completed in June 2021 and could be the first of many such installations.
More information on the Re-wind project can be found here