The GreenerTower – a case for greener steel in the wind industry

When we talk about the energy transition, we can’t avoid the question of resources. Where do we source the materials needed to manufacture the technologies that will reduce our global carbon footprint? And how sustainable is that sourcing? Questions like these are relevant even for the wind industry, which is expected to ramp up installations all over the world to help governments meet their ambitious climate targets. But how do we get there, all while never losing sight of sustainability?

The European Union, as an example, set the year 2050 as its target for achieving climate neutrality for the continent. Part of the strategy behind that includes the ramp-up of wind-turbine installations. But if we’re going to achieve that goal, and despite requiring only a limited amount of resources, the wind industry will need greater access to these resources and raw materials – not least of which is steel.

In 2022, more than 1.8 billion tons of crude steel were manufactured around the world. To build all the wind turbines needed over the next 27 years to meet the European Union’s wind-installation targets, the wind industry would need only six percent of that amount – of only a single year’s global steel production, in other words. Nevertheless, the manufacturing of steel generates significant CO2 emissions, which means that if we’re going to live up to our responsibility to the planet, we have to find a way to reduce those emissions.

For every ton of steel, roughly 1.91 tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere. And at the quantities being manufactured in the world today, the steel industry accounts for 7-9% of man-made greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. This is something that needs to change. And the wind industry is in a unique position to help drive it.

Introducing the GreenerTower – the next step toward net-zero

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that wind turbines are still by far a more sustainable and responsible alternative to fossil-based forms of power generation. Taking into account the entire supply chain, only 10g of CO2 are attributed to every kWh produced by wind turbines. Compare that to the 800g of CO2 per kWh resulting from fossil-based means of power generation. It’s clear, therefore, that wind turbines are the path we must take.

But what can we do to achieve even more progress to continuously improve our own carbon footprint? It’s a question our team has been asking itself for some time now, and one that also drove the team behind the RecyclableBlade . This week, though, we launched the GreenerTower , which is the next step toward creating a fully circular, net-zero manufacturing of wind turbines.

Tower production today accounts for more than one-third of all wind-turbine-related CO2 emissions. That’s something that needs to change. But it’s also an opportunity our team knew it couldn’t pass up.

The idea behind the GreenerTower is simple: Set a standard for our suppliers for the amount of CO2 that the production of one ton of steel is permitted to emit – a standard that must be less than the current 1.91 tons of CO2 today – and reinforce that standard through a qualification process. That’s precisely what our team did: For the GreenerTower, only a maximum of 0.7 tons of CO2 emissions are permitted per ton of steel. This, of course, isn’t zero, but it is a significant step when you consider that this alone will reduce the emissions associated with the steel plates used in our towers by 63%. That’s the equivalent of taking 466,000 cars off the roads in Europe for a year. And another step toward fostering the ramp-up of a green steel industry.

The German steel manufacturing company Salzgitter AG is the first of our suppliers to be qualified. And to make sure the qualification process is watertight, we’ve introduced third-party certification.

When it comes to our planet, there’s no cutting corners. We have to get it right.

And that’s why the team was happy to announce that they already closed their first order. Starting in 2026, Siemens Gamesa will be installing 36 GreenerTowers at German multinational energy company RWE’s 1,000-MW Thor offshore wind-power project in Denmark. This clearly underscores RWE’s commitment to reducing their carbon emissions. And it shows that low-carbon steel can become a realistic standard.

True circularity must be the goal

Here’s the thing: Setting a standard for greener steel isn’t just about the wind industry. Yes, we absolutely need to work toward achieving net-zero emissions for our own products, but steel is used in many other industries as well.

The wind industry, on the other hand, is in a unique position, because the products we offer have the potential to drastically reduce the steel industry’s carbon footprint. By doing so, we open up the door to more sustainably manufactured steel that in turn can be used for more wind turbines, providing even more renewable energy to the steel industry. That’s what we call circularity.

One way renewable energy can make steel greener is by powering electric arc furnaces, which use scrap metal as the primary feedstock to produce new steel. These furnaces require a significant amount of electricity, and by using renewable energy sources – like wind – we can greatly reduce the carbon emissions associated with steel production.

ArcelorMittal, the second largest steel manufacturer in the world, knows this. And it’s why we recently were able to sign a major deal with ArcelorMittal’s subsidiary in India to supply 46 SG 3.6-145 wind turbines for a project totaling 166 MW in Andhra Pradesh . The total power generated from the Kurnool wind farm will be used by a steel plant in Hazira in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Sustainability isn’t a choice. It’s a must.

With both RWE and ArcelorMittal, we see very clear examples of companies taking responsibility to reduce their carbon emissions. And it speaks to the larger trend in the world of companies investing much more in the green and renewable technologies of the future. Not only that, but governments are requiring it. Countries like Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Norway are making sustainability a key component of their auction schemes.

So the political will is clearly evolving to support a sustainable energy and steel industry transition. And the will of companies to invest in our renewable future is there. Now it’s a matter of translating that will into the biggest ramp-up of renewable technologies to date – all while making sure that the means of manufacturing those technologies are themselves sustainable.?