Acciona creates surfboards from decommissioned wind turbine blades

The company has partnered with Australian professional surfer Josh Kerr and his surfboard brand Draft Surf on the project, which involves an initial run of 10 prototype boards.

The boards feature repurposed turbine blade strips built into the surfboard deck, which Acciona said offered “strength and flex control”.

The fins of the board are made recycled fibreglass, and the outer shell of the board is strengthened by incorporating recycled turbine blade particulate into the fibreglassing process.

The project to manufacture the surfboards comes as part of Acciona’s Turbine Made initiative, launched in February to explore innovative ways to transform decommissioned wind turbine blades into new materials and products.

Acciona has previously collaborated with European fashion brand El Ganso to create sneakers featuring recycled blade material in their soles, as well as in the torsion beams of solar trackers at a solar plant in Extremadura, Spain.

Acciona Energia’s global sustainability director Mariola Domenech, said, “We know that in the next 10 to 15 years countries like Australia will have a large volume of decommissioned wind turbine blades, so we’re acting now to explore new ways to recycle and reuse the material they are built from.

“The creation of a surfboard prototype, developed locally, is an example of how we’re reimagining the materials from decommissioned turbine blades and pushing the envelope of innovation when it comes to the circular economy.”