Wind turbines provide renewable energy, but producing the steel they're often made from isn't such an environmentally friendly process. Well, now a wind turbine made of wood has begun supplying electricity to the Swedish grid, as Joanna Fisher explains.

Having brought us abber, meatballs, and flatpack furniture from Sweden comes another innovation that just might change the way we generate electricity.

Welcome to the world's tallest wind turbine tower made out of wood.

Currently, almost all of the world's turbines are steel, which is usually made by burning fossil fuels.

Steel is great material, right? But steel is very heavy. And with this material, we can perform the same task, but with 30 % less weight and with more than 100 % less carbon emissions.

We're the first journalists invited inside for a closer look. Windpower is already one of the cheapest and cleanest ways to generate electricity. Using wood could make it even greener.

I'm now 105 meters up at the very top of the tower. These blades are like almost all wind turbines made out of fiberglass. The generator that I'm standing on is primarily made of steel. But the company who's built the wooden tower say that by making the tower out of wood, it's storing carbon dioxide. It's carbon negative. And it's that carbon dioxide that's warming our planet.

But this isn't only about being greener. To reach stronger and more consistent winds, turbines need to get even taller. That means bigger and wider turbine towers. Getting those massive pieces of steel on site by road is already a major headache. That's where wooden towers just might come in.

There's a huge amount of potential in this.

That's because the towers are modular. At a factory in Gothenburg, more than 100 thin sheets of wood are glued together to make the wall sections. Those modular pieces can then be more easily taken to the turbine site.

We do not bolt our towers or screw them together.

We.

Glue them together.

Wood and.

Glue is a perfect combination.

Is it all just a bit of a gimmick?

Well.

Maybe not. The project is being backed by Vestas, the world's largest installer of wind power. They told us that using wood could end up solving some of the industry's transport problems in a more environmentally sustainable way. Joan of Fisher BBC News in Gothenburg in Sweden.