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Only the nacelle—the housing at the top of the turbine—became a tiny home; the tower, blades and foundation were not part of the conversion. Vattenfall presented the project in October 2024, using a nacelle from a V80 2MW turbine built in 2005 at the Gols wind farm in Austria. The company says the turbine operated for 20 years before its nacelle was reused.
What was reused, and what was built?
The nacelle is the machine housing that sits atop a wind turbine. For this project, Vattenfall and Dutch design studio Superuse conceived and designed its conversion; Blade-Made and Woodwave carried it out. Business in Wind, which decommissioned the wind farm, made the nacelle available, according to Vattenfall’s Dutch-language announcement.
The reused shell is glass-fibre-reinforced plastic. Vattenfall describes it as lightweight and watertight, and says it remains recognizable as turbine machinery. The project retained that industrial shell as the home’s central structure rather than turning the whole turbine into a dwelling.
How large is the nacelle home?
Vattenfall’s announcement lists the shell dimensions as 4 metres wide, 10 metres long and 3 metres high. A later project story gives the habitable area as 35 m². These figures describe different things: the exterior dimensions and the reported usable area.
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What is inside the converted shell?
The interior includes a kitchen, bathroom and living area. Vattenfall also lists a heat pump, solar panels and a solar water heater. Feenstra, a Vattenfall subsidiary, installed the electrical system. The project description does not identify equipment brands, models, capacity, or a detailed energy-system configuration.
Vattenfall says the home was furnished with sustainably produced and second-hand furniture in collaboration with Reliving. One listed piece is a table by circuform that incorporates material from a recycled turbine blade.
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Does it meet building requirements, and can it be lived in?
Vattenfall says the design was made to meet building-code requirements and could be used as a residence or holiday home. That is the project company’s claim: its published account does not identify the specific code provisions or provide an independent inspection record. The example therefore shows one converted nacelle presented as habitable, not that any retired nacelle can be approved as a home.
Suitability depends on the condition and dimensions of the individual shell, the conversion work, and the requirements that apply at its location. Vattenfall described this build as a challenging demonstration using a relatively small nacelle, and said later turbine nacelles often offer more space.
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How much electricity did the original turbine generate?
Vattenfall says the turbine generated 73 GWh during its 20 years of operation. The company compared that output with enough electricity for more than 29,000 households for a year; it did not publish the assumptions behind that household conversion, so the comparison should be understood as Vattenfall’s estimate.
What does the project show about reuse?
Vattenfall presents reuse of the nacelle as a way to avoid sending a complex structure directly to energy-intensive recycling. The company has not published a lifecycle assessment, comparative carbon-savings figure or verified project cost, so the installation is best understood as a reuse demonstration rather than proof of a quantified environmental or financial advantage.
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Jos de Krieger, a partner at Superuse and Blade-Made, estimated in Vattenfall’s 2024 announcement that at least 10,000 nacelles of this generation were available worldwide, with most not yet decommissioned. That is his estimate, not an independently verified inventory. The figure suggests a possible reuse opportunity, but it does not establish how many nacelles are structurally suitable, available for conversion, or appropriate for housing.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When and where was it shown?
The home was displayed at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven from 19 to 27 October 2024. That was a past exhibition; the published project information does not establish current visitor access.
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Sources
- Vattenfall’s October 2024 project announcement
- Vattenfall’s project story with the reported 35 m² habitable area
- Business in Wind’s Dutch-language announcement
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