#236 From Innovation to Circularity: How EOLIAN is Redefining Wind Turbine Blades
10.07.2026 112 min Staffel 5 Episode 194
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
The transition towards climate neutrality is accelerating, and wind energy stands at the heart of Europe’s sustainable future. Yet, as the sector scales, a critical challenge emerges: how do we ensure that the materials enabling clean energy are themselves circular?
This is exactly where the EOLIAN project comes in.
Funded under Horizon Europe, EOLIAN is pioneering a new generation of smart, sustainable wind turbine blades designed not only for performance, but for circularity across their entire life cycle.
By combining bio-based, repairable and recyclable vitrimer composites with advanced structural health monitoring systems, EOLIAN is redefining how wind turbine blades are designed, used and ultimately reintegrated into the value chain.
Unlike conventional blades, which are difficult to repair and recycle, EOLIAN introduces breakthrough innovations:
• Self-healing materials enabling faster and more efficient repairs
• Embedded sensors for real-time structural health monitoring
• Bio-based vitrimer composites allowing reprocessing and recycling
• Advanced design principles targeting longer lifetime and lower life cycle costs
The result is a transformative approach that aims to deliver:
• longer service life
• improved reliability
• reduced operational costs
• and significantly enhanced recyclability
EOLIAN is not just a research project – it is a system innovation for circular wind energy infrastructure in Europe.
To bring these innovations closer to industry adoption, the project is supported by EuCIA – the European Composites Industry Association.
Headquartered in Brussels, EuCIA represents the entire European composites value chain, bringing together national associations, sector groups, and industry stakeholders. With a mission to support sustainable growth and competitiveness, EuCIA plays a pivotal role at the intersection of industry, policy, and innovation.
Within EOLIAN, EuCIA leads dissemination and exploitation activities, ensuring that project results are translated into real-world industrial impact, stakeholder engagement, and future market uptake.
Beyond individual projects, EUCIA is driving a much broader transformation through the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA).
Launched in partnership with JEC, ECCA is a fast-growing European initiative uniting over 200 organisations across the composites value chain to enable a truly circular economy for composite materials. [eucia.eu]
The Alliance focuses on:
• increasing the use of recycled composites
• developing standards for circular product design
• improving collection, sorting and recycling systems
• aligning industry action with European sustainability policies
ECCA represents a crucial shift: from isolated innovation efforts to collective, industry-wide transformation.
As Community Manager of Composites Lounge, my involvement in this LinkedIn Live is closely connected to this broader mission.
Through my support and engagement with ECCA, I am committed to amplifying the voices, innovations and collaborations that are shaping the future of circular composites in Europe.
🎙 Speakers
This LinkedIn Live brings together leading experts from across the EOLIAN consortium, covering the full value chain from materials innovation to industrial deployment and circularity assessment:
• Marta Zaccone – Transfer Technology Project Manager, Proplast (Italy)
Project Coordinator of EOLIAN, Proplast leads overall project execution and contributes to technical work on developing vitrimer composites and their chemical recycling.
• Cristina Monteserin – Researcher, TEKNIKER (Spain)
As well as driving the development of vitrimer resins and composites, Tekinker is also integrating advanced sensors and actuators into the material system.
• Andrea Minigher – Business Development, AEP Polymers (Italy)
Responsible for optimising and scaling up high-performance vitrimer systems for industrial application.
• Marco Longana – Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
PoliMi is leading manufacturing and testing of basalt fibre-reinforced vitrimer composites, and optimisating recycling processes.
• Daniel Paul – Research Fellow, Brunel Composites Centre, Brunel University London (UK)
BCC and Entelea are developing advanced multiscale models to accurately represent material behaviour and performance.
• Dr. Fotini Petrakli – Sustainability Manager, IRES – Innovation in Research and Engineering Solutions (Belgium)
Assessing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of EOLIAN technologies across their lifecycle.
• Claudia Vázquez Sanz – Technical Procurement & Blades Engineering, Norvento TECHnPower (Spain)
Leading the design and manufacturing of the EOLIAN prototype vitrimer composite blade, as well as LCOE and life cycle analysis.
• Zeynep Korkmaz – Senior R&D Specialist, Zorlu Enerji (Türkiye)
Driving exploitation strategies and IP management to enable market adoption and end-to-end value chain development.
• EuCIA Representative (tbc)
YouTube Episode: https://youtube.com/live/LIMT30yP6Yw?feature=share
This is exactly where the EOLIAN project comes in.
Funded under Horizon Europe, EOLIAN is pioneering a new generation of smart, sustainable wind turbine blades designed not only for performance, but for circularity across their entire life cycle.
By combining bio-based, repairable and recyclable vitrimer composites with advanced structural health monitoring systems, EOLIAN is redefining how wind turbine blades are designed, used and ultimately reintegrated into the value chain.
Unlike conventional blades, which are difficult to repair and recycle, EOLIAN introduces breakthrough innovations:
• Self-healing materials enabling faster and more efficient repairs
• Embedded sensors for real-time structural health monitoring
• Bio-based vitrimer composites allowing reprocessing and recycling
• Advanced design principles targeting longer lifetime and lower life cycle costs
The result is a transformative approach that aims to deliver:
• longer service life
• improved reliability
• reduced operational costs
• and significantly enhanced recyclability
EOLIAN is not just a research project – it is a system innovation for circular wind energy infrastructure in Europe.
To bring these innovations closer to industry adoption, the project is supported by EuCIA – the European Composites Industry Association.
Headquartered in Brussels, EuCIA represents the entire European composites value chain, bringing together national associations, sector groups, and industry stakeholders. With a mission to support sustainable growth and competitiveness, EuCIA plays a pivotal role at the intersection of industry, policy, and innovation.
Within EOLIAN, EuCIA leads dissemination and exploitation activities, ensuring that project results are translated into real-world industrial impact, stakeholder engagement, and future market uptake.
Beyond individual projects, EUCIA is driving a much broader transformation through the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA).
Launched in partnership with JEC, ECCA is a fast-growing European initiative uniting over 200 organisations across the composites value chain to enable a truly circular economy for composite materials. [eucia.eu]
The Alliance focuses on:
• increasing the use of recycled composites
• developing standards for circular product design
• improving collection, sorting and recycling systems
• aligning industry action with European sustainability policies
ECCA represents a crucial shift: from isolated innovation efforts to collective, industry-wide transformation.
As Community Manager of Composites Lounge, my involvement in this LinkedIn Live is closely connected to this broader mission.
Through my support and engagement with ECCA, I am committed to amplifying the voices, innovations and collaborations that are shaping the future of circular composites in Europe.
🎙 Speakers
This LinkedIn Live brings together leading experts from across the EOLIAN consortium, covering the full value chain from materials innovation to industrial deployment and circularity assessment:
• Marta Zaccone – Transfer Technology Project Manager, Proplast (Italy)
Project Coordinator of EOLIAN, Proplast leads overall project execution and contributes to technical work on developing vitrimer composites and their chemical recycling.
• Cristina Monteserin – Researcher, TEKNIKER (Spain)
As well as driving the development of vitrimer resins and composites, Tekinker is also integrating advanced sensors and actuators into the material system.
• Andrea Minigher – Business Development, AEP Polymers (Italy)
Responsible for optimising and scaling up high-performance vitrimer systems for industrial application.
• Marco Longana – Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
PoliMi is leading manufacturing and testing of basalt fibre-reinforced vitrimer composites, and optimisating recycling processes.
• Daniel Paul – Research Fellow, Brunel Composites Centre, Brunel University London (UK)
BCC and Entelea are developing advanced multiscale models to accurately represent material behaviour and performance.
• Dr. Fotini Petrakli – Sustainability Manager, IRES – Innovation in Research and Engineering Solutions (Belgium)
Assessing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of EOLIAN technologies across their lifecycle.
• Claudia Vázquez Sanz – Technical Procurement & Blades Engineering, Norvento TECHnPower (Spain)
Leading the design and manufacturing of the EOLIAN prototype vitrimer composite blade, as well as LCOE and life cycle analysis.
• Zeynep Korkmaz – Senior R&D Specialist, Zorlu Enerji (Türkiye)
Driving exploitation strategies and IP management to enable market adoption and end-to-end value chain development.
• EuCIA Representative (tbc)
YouTube Episode: https://youtube.com/live/LIMT30yP6Yw?feature=share