In an inspiring move toward sustainable innovation, ACCIONA Energía Australia is breathing new life into old wind turbine blades through its pioneering Turbine Made initiative. At the helm of this creative sustainability campaign is Caroline Pinter, General Manager of Brand and Marketing, who shares how the company is transforming decommissioned wind turbine blades into high-performance surfboards. In this interview, she discusses the challenges of recycling composite materials, the collaboration with surf culture icons like Josh Kerr, and ACCIONA’s broader vision for a circular economy in renewable energy.
Please introduce yourself and your role at ACCIONA.
I am Caroline Pinter, General Manager, Brand and Marketing at ACCIONA Energía Australia. My role focuses on shaping the brand strategy, marketing initiatives, and partnership and staff engagement here in Australia. We collaborate with communities to produce sustainable energy, create jobs, and contribute to establishing Australia’s low-carbon economy.
What are the current challenges with recycling wind turbines?
Wind turbine blades are made from composite materials like fiberglass and resins, which are durable but notoriously difficult to recycle. Traditional recycling methods often rely on combustion or landfilling, neither of which aligns with our sustainability goals.
Australia has 31 wind farms with turbines over 15 years old. Over the next decade, countless blades will require replacement. We need a scalable solution that diverts significant material from landfills and creates a foundation for sustainable industry transformation.
Despite these challenges, our Turbine Made initiative is a key step toward an Australian renewables circular economy. Thanks to our circular economy programs, our company’s waste recovery rate is 98% (2024 Sustainability Report).
Image Credit: ACCIONA Energía Australia
Can you provide an overview of the Turbine Made initiative and how the idea of creating surfboards from decommissioned wind turbine blades came to life?
Turbine Made is ACCIONA’s first Australian initiative focused on exploring ways to transform decommissioned turbine blades into new, sustainable products.
The surfboard project is a pilot initiative created to raise awareness and commence the conversation around blade recycling. It involves repurposing a turbine blade from the Waubra Wind Farm into particulate material, then crafting high-performance surfboards with Draft Surf, founded by Aussie pro surfer Josh Kerr.
This project combines two powerful themes: sustainability and surf culture. What inspired ACCIONA to blend these seemingly unrelated worlds?
Surfing is inherently connected to nature and resonates strongly with environmental stewardship. Australia’s vibrant surf culture offered a compelling, relatable platform to tell a sustainability story in a new, engaging way. Partnering with Draft Surf allowed us to connect with a community that values innovation and environmental protection.
This is not the first time that the worlds of surfing and renewables have come together. Thirty years ago, when we built one of our first wind farms in Spain, we contacted the local surfboard shapers to see if we needed to repair the wind turbine blades, as no one else had experience working with fiberglass.
Image Credit: ACCIONA Energía Australia
Locally, ACCIONA has supported Surfing Australia through a corporate partnership since 2019. Our shared goal is for a sustainable future where people live harmoniously with nature.
Can you explain your wind turbine recycling process and how it is carried out?
Here in Australia, we use a mechanical process to break down the turbine blades into particulate material. This material can then be integrated into new products—like surfboards—where it adds strength and flexibility.
In the case of the boards, blade strips were used for flex control, and blade particles were added to the resin during fiberglassing. We also used stripped-back pieces of the blade to create the glassed-in fins.
What were some of the key engineering or material challenges you faced during wind turbine recycling, and how were they overcome?
One major challenge was adapting composite blade materials for use in surfboards while preserving performance characteristics. We wanted to create a product that could utilize the blade’s inherent properties of showing strength and flexibility under extreme conditions and turning one form of power (wind and waves, respectively) into another form of energy.
We achieved the right balance of strength and flex by embedding whole blade segments and customizing the processing techniques. Testing under extreme surf conditions in the waves below our Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm in South Australia, facing the Southern Ocean, confirmed their durability and performance.
Image Credit: ACCIONA Energía Australia
That said, more research and partnerships must take place to create scalable solutions. In the context of Australia’s waste problem, wind turbine waste accounts for only 0.07% of our landfills, so having that perspective is important.
The campaign features a strong creative execution in collaboration with DDB Group and Draft Surf. How did the partnership between ACCIONA and these creatives shape the final outcome?
The collaboration brought together world-class creativity and surfboard design expertise. DDB Group helped shape the strategy, storytelling, and campaign identity, while Draft Surf handled the technical integration of recycled materials into high-performance boards. As a team, we were very aligned in our ambition to blend positivity, sustainability, and innovation into a truly Aussie initiative.
Image Credit: ACCIONA Energía Australia
Has there been any discussion or plan to scale this idea – either by repurposing more wind turbines into consumer products or expanding to other sustainable initiatives?
Yes, we are actively exploring other applications and seeking expressions of interest from Australian innovators who want to make their ideas a reality.
Click here to save this interview for later reading
We also continue to scale globally—ACCIONA is developing a state-of-the-art blade recycling facility in Navarra, Spain. The plant will process up to 6,000 tons of material per year using proprietary thermal treatment technology that preserves the fiber’s integrity without combustion. It is expected to be operational by 2026 and will create around 100 new jobs.
ACCIONA’s brand purpose emphasizes designing a better planet. In what ways does this surfboard initiative serve as a tangible representation of that purpose in action?
The Turbine Made surfboard is a living example of circular economy thinking—taking a waste challenge and transforming it into a product that inspires and performs. It captures our sustainability vision and demonstrates how cross-industry collaboration can produce innovative, meaningful solutions. It also reflects ACCIONA’s broader commitment to sustainability, with 98% of the company’s materials being recycled across its global operations.
The Turbine Made campaign also serves as a platform for broader conversations about renewable energy and waste. What kind of public or industry response has it received so far?
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Our launch event at URBNSURF in Sydney attracted stakeholders from across the industry, media, and the surf community.
Notably, the Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, attended the launch and wore a pair of sneakers made with recycled turbine blade material—part of another ACCIONA collaboration with fashion brand El Ganso.
Image Credit: ACCIONA Energía Australia
The event was a high-impact way to spark conversation and enthusiasm around sustainability in a fun and relatable setting. Anecdotally, I am writing this from Burleigh Heads, where we are sponsoring the Surfing Australia and its Aussie Boardriders Battle. Check our socials to see Josh Kerr talk about the initiative.
Does ACCIONA have any other exciting wind turbine recycling projects you would like to discuss?
Yes, we are building on successful blade recycling efforts in Spain, where we’ve collaborated with brands like El Ganso and integrated blade materials into solar infrastructure.
The new recycling plant in Spain further accelerates these efforts. In Australia, we're looking for new collaborators and product ideas to bring Turbine Made to life in more industries and communities.
Where can readers find more information?
About Caroline Pinter
Caroline Pinter is the General Manager of Brand and Marketing at ACCIONA Energía Australia. With a career spanning marketing leadership roles in the renewable energy, infrastructure, and engineering sectors, she is passionate about building purpose-led brands that drive tangible impact.
More here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpinter/
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited (T/A) AZoNetwork, the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and Conditions of use of this website.