Burgar Hill on Orkney was chosen as a test bed for onshore wind turbines in the 1980s as one of the best sites for wind generation in Europe. To harness the abundant wind resource, we chose a Class I turbine which is specifically designed to withstand and operate in consistently high and turbulent winds. The name “Sigurd” is that of a legendary hero from the ancient Norse stories which are renowned on the islands.

After 22 incredibly productive years the blades on Sigurd reached end of life in 2023, having generated over 88GWh of clean electricity and travelled more than 8 million miles. The old blades have been replaced so that Sigurd can continue generating clean electricity and we are working with ReBlade to repurpose the used blades into useful items like bike shelters and EV charging stations. Thrive is one of the first UK companies to decommission wind turbine blades with circular economy principles.