#236 From Innovation to Circularity: How EOLIAN is Redefining Wind Turbine Blades

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