“Now the focus has evolved from making wind power not only competitive, but also making the industry sustainable,” LM Wind Power chief executive Olivier Fontan said. “It is not one or the other, but both.”
Nearly one-third of LM Wind Power’s carbon footprint is linked to waste disposal. And up to a quarter of the materials purchased by producers goes unused.
Ørsted, the international developer of land-based and offshore wind energy, agreed in June to achieve a zero-carbon footprint by undertaking repeatedly to use, dispose of or reuse all wind turbine blades in its world-wide network after they are taken out of service.
According to the companiy’s calculations, 85 to 95 % of wind turbines can be recycled. But the problem is linked to the blades, produced from composite materials known for their durability.
GWEC Market Intelligence forecast that in the period from 2021 to 2025, an additional 470 GW of land-based and offshore wind power will be installed. And that means that the issue of disposing of turbine blades at the end of their working lives is critically important and topical.
By 2030, Europe may be in a position to withdraw from service up to 5,700 first-generation wind turbines – keeping in mind that turbine blades are about 40 metres long and weigh up to 7 tonnes.
New companies world-wide are dealing specifically with the blades’ disposal, but their number is so far insufficient. Composite waste can be used in cement production as energy raw materials or additives and can also be mechanically recycled.
