An integrated geospatial approach for repurposing wind turbine blades

Delaney, Emma L.; McKinley, Jennifer; Megarry, William; Graham, Conor; Leahy, Paul; Bank, Lawrence C.; Gentry, Russell

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105601

Cited by 47 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Data systems that offer insight into the quantities and qualities of resource stocks and flows are essential to enable decision-making for the uptake of more circular economy practices [66] and policies and regulations [115]. Initial signs of the development of such systems can be derived from articles on the Internet of Things [61,116], indicators [117] and material stocks and waste flows [8,49,59,60,89,94]. Mathews and Huang [118] compare the uptake of renewable energy in China within a global context.…”

Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four publications include initial circular economy frameworks for the wind sector [8,[47][48][49]. Jensen and Skelton [47] position the current end-of-use solutions for turbine blades within the context of a circular economy diagram, visually similar to the Ellen Mac-Arthur's "butterfly diagram" (an overview and critical review in [41]).…”

Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response, they propose a rudimentary framework for a sustainable circular economy in offshore wind. Similarly, Delaney et al [49] take the waste hierarchy as a starting point and connect other circular economy practices to it, such as lifetime extension and repair. The frameworks do not explain in detail what each circular economy strategy includes.…”

Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Focus on no, or a subset of, circular economy strategies would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences-for example, growing offshore wind without circular economy considerations could reduce carbon impacts but would likely cause trade-offs with clean water and nature conservation, a focus on recycling could lead to more pollution and costs in comparison to durable designs [45] and the race to reduce costs for the private sector to grow offshore wind in the near-term can lead to higher decommissioning costs that may, moreover, have to be paid by the public later on [8,46]. Only four publications include initial circular economy frameworks for wind energy [8,[47][48][49]. This article will evidence that none of these articles meet the full breadth of strategies demanded in offshore wind.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

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Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Current Circular Economy Literature On Wind Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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“…A Geographical Information System (ArcGIS Pro-Version 2.5) is used to calculate the average distances from the windfarms to the nearest suitable sites for the five end-of-life alternatives (Delaney et al, 2021). The mean distance to a landfill site which takes composite waste is 113 km, to an incinerator is 214 km and to a cement kiln 131 km.…”

Section: Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-Life Alternatives for Wind Turbine Blades: Sustainability Indices Based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

et al. 2021

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The background to this research is that across the world there will be 200,000 tonnes of wind turbine blade waste to be disposed of each year from 2033. The purpose of the research is to compare the relative sustainability of alternative ways to deal with this waste, these being: landfill, incineration with heat recovery, co-processing in cement kilns, making furniture and bridge fabrication. The method is to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to select 11 metrics for sustainability. The use of the SDGs adds to the objectivity of this process overcoming one of the principal weaknesses of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Quantitative information methods from Life Cycle Assessment, Geographic Information Science, census data and real options analysis of R&D, alongside qualitative information from Delphi studies and Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats analysis are combined in the assessment. Three MCDA methods are used, each calculates economic, social and environmental sustainability indices for the end-of-life alternatives which are then combined into integrated sustainability indices. A novel Delphi stopping condition based on consensus, consistency and convergence is used. The primary result is that bridge fabrication is the most sustainable alternative with furniture making in second place. Co-processing, incineration with heat recovery and landfill are progressively less sustainable alternatives. This result is robust to substantial changes in the selection of experts' opinions, the weights for MCDA and the values of the metrics. These findings offer researchers and policymakers a robust decision making process, applicable to situations where choices are made on sustainability criteria.

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Method for estimating the future annual mass of decommissioned wind turbine blade material in Denmark

Bech Abrahamsen,

Beauson,

Wilhelm Lund

et al. 2023

Wind Energy

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A model of the evolution of the onshore wind turbine blade mass installed in Denmark is proposed described by a Weibull distribution, and the age of the blades is estimated from decommissioning data to = 29 years when half of the blade mass of an installation year has been decommissioned. This is considerably longer than the 20 year design lifetime of onshore turbines, which is often assumed to be an estimate of the End‐of‐Life of turbine blades. Thus, blade waste predictions using the simple assumption may predict that installed blade masses are entering recycling processes about 9 years sooner that what is observed in Denmark. The blade mass for decommissioning in Denmark is estimated to peak at 2000 and 5000 ton/year in 2028 and 2045 using the Weibull model.

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An integrated geospatial approach for repurposing wind turbine blades

Cited by 47 publications

References 107 publications

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

End-of-Life Alternatives for Wind Turbine Blades: Sustainability Indices Based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Method for estimating the future annual mass of decommissioned wind turbine blade material in Denmark

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