Voodin lands €48M EU grant to build first wooden wind turbine blade factory
What's the deal? Voodin Blade Technology and three consortium partners secured a €48.18 million grant from the European Union Innovation Fund to build the world's first commercial factory for onshore wind turbine blades made from laminated wood. The plant will be located in Navarra, Spain.
Who's involved? The Voodin Blade 1st Factory (VB1F) consortium pairs German firms Voodin Blade Technology and Anker Tec with Lithuanian companies VMG Wood Invest, the project coordinator, and VMG Technics.
What's the endgame? The factory is set to open in 2031 and produce up to 160 blade sets a year. Those blades could power turbines generating roughly 13.5 million MWh of electricity over a decade.
Why wood? Conventional blades use fibreglass and rely on centralised factories and specialised labour. Voodin says its mould-free process — blades are "sculpted" by robots — cuts upfront investment by 54%, lowers CO2 emissions by 78%, reduces costs by 20%, and yields fully recyclable products.
Why now? Currently, 78% of end-of-life blades cannot be recycled and go to landfill, with an estimated 50,000 tonnes of blade waste projected by 2050. The grant aligns the project with EU frameworks including the European Green Deal, the Net-Zero Industry Act, and REPowerEU.
The expansion: The Navarra plant is designed as a scalable, replicable model. "By enabling wind blade production locally and in a decentralised way, we can help build stronger and more resilient European supply chains," said Tom Siekmann, co-founder and chief executive officer of Voodin Blade Technology, who added the system was "designed for rapid large-scale deployment." The site is expected to create around 450 jobs at full capacity.
The signal: The wind industry is valued at roughly €44 billion, and €45 billion flowed into new EU wind projects in 2025. The grant ranks among the largest for energy grants in Germany, above the 95th percentile across 430 comparable rounds — a sign the bloc is betting on domestic, recyclable manufacturing to reduce reliance on foreign supply.
Read more: sapo.pt
Image credit: Lars Plougmann
