Living inside a wind turbine might sound like science fiction, but thanks to Vattenfall and design studio Superuse, it’s now a reality. They have ingeniously repurposed a wind turbine nacelle – the large pod at the top of a turbine – into a fully functional tiny house.
This project, showcased at Dutch Design Week 2024, demonstrates an innovative approach to reusing industrial materials.
The tiny house, constructed from a V80 2MW turbine that operated for 20 years in Austria, is compact yet liveable. Measuring four metres in width, 10 metres in length, and three metres in height, it includes a kitchen, bathroom, and living area.
Equipped with modern, eco-friendly technologies like a heat pump, solar panels, and a solar water heater, the house is designed for sustainability.
Image: Jorrit Lousberg/Vattenfall.
A case study for industrial reuse
As wind turbines reach the end of their operational life, many are set to be dismantled or replaced. While much of a turbine – such as the tower, foundation, and generator – is made of easily recyclable materials, recycling still consumes a significant amount of energy.
Melting down steel, for instance, is energy-intensive and releases emissions. Vattenfall’s initiative seeks to minimise the environmental impact by repurposing materials with minimal modifications.
Perspective and challenges for construction
The tiny house was conceived and designed by Superuse and executed by Blade-Made and Woodwave. Superuse opted for the most difficult solution: designing a building code-compliant house in the smallest possible nacelle.
The nacelle used comes from a V80 2MW turbine, the first model with a nacelle large enough for a tiny house. Nacelles from later turbines often offer much more space. Despite its limited size, the tiny house complies with the building code and is therefore fully usable for habitation, or holiday use.
Thomas Hjort, Vattenfall’s director of innovation, explained the motivation behind the project: “We are looking for innovative ways in which you can reuse materials from used turbines as completely as possible. So making something new from them with as few modifications as possible.”
This project is part of a broader effort by Vattenfall to explore sustainable design solutions. The collaboration between Superuse and Vattenfall underscores the potential for upcycling turbine components into usable structures, extending their life cycle and reducing waste.
Design challenges
Repurposing a turbine nacelle into a tiny house was no small feat. Superuse, along with Blade-Made and Woodwave, opted for the challenging task of converting one of the smallest possible nacelles into a structure that meets building codes. While larger nacelles from newer turbines offer more space, the team successfully designed a liveable space within this compact pod.
Superuse partner Jos de Krieger emphasised the idea’s scalability, noting that approximately 10,000 similar nacelles around the world are waiting to be decommissioned.
He said: "At least 10,000 of this generation of nacelles are available, spread around the world. Most of them have yet to be decommissioned. This offers perspective and a challenge for owners and decommissioners. If such a complex structure as a house is possible, then numerous simpler solutions are also feasible and scalable."
In collaboration with Reliving, the tiny house was furnished with sustainably produced and second-hand furniture, including a table made of circuform that incorporates material from a recycled wind turbine blade. The electrical installation was installed by Vattenfall subsidiary Feenstra.
This opens up numerous opportunities for repurposing wind turbine parts in a variety of applications, from housing to simpler solutions like urban furniture or floating islands made from turbine blades.
The tiny house isn’t just an isolated project; it is part of a larger vision. During Dutch Design Week, Vattenfall also displayed other innovative concepts for reusing wind turbine materials, including art installations made from turbine data and designs for floating islands constructed from old blades.
These projects highlight the vast potential of wind turbine components to be reused creatively and sustainably.
Vattenfall’s tiny house demonstrates that even complex structures like nacelles can be transformed into liveable, eco-friendly spaces. This innovative reuse of materials offers an inspiring glimpse into the future of sustainable design, where wind turbines live on long after they’ve stopped turning.
About the nacelle
The nacelle used for construction was taken from a V80 2MW turbine built at the Austrian Gols wind farm in 2005. During 20 years of faithful service, the turbine produced 73GWh of electricity, enough to power more than 29,000 households for a year. The nacelle stood at a height of 100 metres.
Dutch company, Business in Wind, decommissioned the wind farm and made the nacelle available for this project.