€48.18m · Grant · Energy · Lichtenfels, Germany
Lichtenfels-based Voodin Blade Technology and three partners have secured a €48.18m EU Innovation Fund grant for the Voodin Blade 1st Factory (VB1F), a planned automated factory for recyclable wooden wind turbine blades in Navarre, Spain. The European Commission lists the grant as signed; Tech.eu reported that VMG Wood Invest coordinates the four-member consortium alongside Voodin, VMG Technics and Anker-Tec.
Voodin is developing blades from laminated veneer lumber rather than conventional fibreglass composites. Its process uses five-axis CNC milling guided by a digital model, removing the fixed mould normally required for each blade design. The company says this lets one line produce different geometries without retooling, while the wood-based blades are designed to be recyclable at end of life. Those are company claims, but they define the customer proposition: blade makers and wind-farm operators could gain a more flexible production route as well as an answer to the disposal problem attached to composite blades.
A factory is the commercial proof point
The grant finances the move from a manufacturing method to an industrial system. The VB1F project site says the facility is scheduled to enter operation in 2031 and is designed for blades between 20 and 90 metres, with annual capacity of up to 160 sets. It also forecasts roughly 54% lower capital investment than conventional methods. Because the plant is not yet operating, these figures are targets rather than demonstrated production economics.
The mould-free process is commercially important because tooling is usually tied to a specific blade design. If Voodin can move designs through software and CNC machining instead, the same factory could serve new turbines, replacement blades for older fleets and several blade sizes without rebuilding its production setup. That flexibility may lower the cost of serving smaller or fragmented demand. VB1F also presents licensing as a route to replicate production near wind farms, which would turn the first factory into a reference design rather than a single manufacturing asset.
Execution now sits with a consortium that spans the blade technology, engineered-wood manufacturing and industrial equipment needed to deliver the site. The project runs from April 2026 to December 2035 and forecasts close to 450 operational jobs and more than 2.4m tonnes of avoided CO₂e during its first decade. Those outcomes depend on the Navarre plant reaching its planned 2031 start and then sustaining commercial-scale output, making factory commissioning the next meaningful validation point.
