A startup with ties to Alliant Energy said it’s building a plant near Cedar Rapids that will recycle decommissioned wind turbine blades, preventing the spent equipment from going into landfills and addressing critics’ challenges that wind energy is environmentally friendly. Travero, an Alliant subsidiary, is spinning off a new business called REGEN Fiber. The startup announced Thursday it’s building a plant in Fairfax that will convert used wind turbine blades into reusable materials that increase the strength and durability of concrete, mortar and other products.
REGEN Fiber said it has a patent pending for an “eco-friendly process” that it piloted last year at a facility in Des Moines. Suppliers shred the decommissioned blades into smaller pieces that are delivered to REGEN Fiber for processing into products for customers, the company said. Unlike existing process, the blades are processed without using heat or chemicals, it said.
“With tremendous growth projected in the wind industry and an increasing number of turbines already reaching the end of their approximately 20-year lifespan, REGEN Fiber is entering the market at the perfect time,” said according to Jeff Woods, Travero’s director of business development, in a statement.