;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=d0881e05ce670150c3eb50aecb4824f851f4ab9be3ac8d61fbd8819f33d68360 "Recycling wind turbines causes problems – mountains of scrap are growing")
What to do with the rotor blades?: The mountain of scrap from wind turbines is growing because there is no recycling solution
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Sunday, 07/30/2023, 17:52
In the course of the energy transition, the expansion of wind turbines is crucial. Although these have an expiry date, there are still insufficient recycling solutions. That scratches the green image.
Wind turbines are usually in use for around 20 years, after which many of them are dismantled. The recycling of old rotor blades still proves to be extremely difficult. A problem that is getting worse with the expansion of renewable energies – after all, the mountain of scrap from old systems is also growing.
No energy transition without wind power
Wind energy is one, if not the decisive pillar for the climate change. The sector accounts for the largest share of electricity generation from renewable energies in Germany. Around 30,000 systems on land and at sea with a total capacity of 58 gigawatts are currently in operation across the country. This is set to more than double by 2030.
In order to be able to “harvest” as much wind as possible, wind turbines have become larger and larger in recent years. The rotor blades are sometimes more than 50 meters long and weigh over 25 tons. The components have to withstand high loads during use.
“The tip of the wing moves at up to 400 kilometers per hour. Smaller wind turbines even reach half the speed of sound,” says Dieter Stapf from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in conversation with the mirror . In addition, there are weather influences such as rain, snow, hail or salt water at sea, which damage the material in the long term. The durability of the systems is therefore limited.
Tail wind through state funding – then there is no wind
Although the lifetime of wind turbines could be over 30 years, many are switched off after 20 years. The reason: the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) passed in 2000. It guarantees plant operators feed-in tariffs – but only for 20 years. Without the subsidy, the continued operation of many older wind turbines is no longer worthwhile, since the costs for maintenance and repairs in particular increase as the system ages.
So it came about that in 2021, according to calculations by the consulting firm Deutsche Windguard, around 6,000 turbines with an installed capacity of almost 4,500 megawatts (MW) were shut down. The properties dropped out of the EEG subsidy after 20 years. And in the years to come, the EEG remuneration will also expire annually for further wind turbines with an installed capacity of 2,000 to 3,000 MW.
The fact that the decommissioned wind turbines simply remain in the landscape is after Federal Immissions Act excluded. Consequently, it means for the operator: dismantling. Around 10,000 tons of waste from wind turbines are already collected in Germany every year at. According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technologies, the amount of waste will be four times as high by 2045. But what to do with the rotors and masts? The recycling issue is literally presenting the industry with huge challenges.
The mountain of rubbish is growing – there are no recycling solutions
So far, there are no binding disposal methods or solutions for the environmentally friendly recycling of the materials. Whether, for example, the foundations anchored in the terrain are to be removed completely or only superficially has not yet been regulated. The Federal Environment Agency In this context, refers to the responsibility of the operator, since the great diversity of systems and locations requires tailor-made dismantling concepts.
Many operators boast that when a wind turbine is dismantled, 80 to 90 percent of the materials used can be recycled – but a closer look clouds this balance. The materials contained in the mast, such as concrete, steel and copper, can be recovered, but economically viable recycling only works for the metals.
Although the large quantities of old concrete are reused in the construction industry, processing them into recycled concrete is very complex and energy-intensive. There are also no established recycling processes in Germany for the rare earths installed in the magnets of the generators.
What to do with harmful substances?
It becomes even more problematic with the rotor blades. They are made of glass or carbon fiber bonded with a synthetic resin. The carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is difficult to disassemble into its individual parts, and harmful fiber dust is released during the shredding. There has been a ban on disposing of this type of plastic in landfills in Germany since 2005.
For this reason, the old wind turbine blades have so far ended up in the kiln as fuel for cement production. Although it replaces the use of heavy fuel oil, there can be no question of recycling here – a lot of CO2 is produced during combustion.
According to a study by the Federal Environment Agency, in this decade alone, the dismantling of plants will produce around 20,000 tons of rotor blade waste that is difficult to recycle, and the trend is rising. The experts fear that rotor blades are insufficiently disposed of or exported abroad for sham recycling, for example to the USA, where there are landfills for discarded rotor blades.
Innovation is in demand – also for manufacturers
With the energy transition accelerating, there is increasing pressure to develop recycling processes for discarded wind turbines. So far there have only been a few companies that have specialized in the field, but the lucrative niche is likely to attract many startups in the near future. For example, the Bremen-based waste disposal service provider Neocomp is already working on solutions for more environmentally friendly shredding and processing of the bonded plastics.
Plant manufacturers are also in demand. The sustainability requirement must already be an integral part of the construction of the wind turbines. For example, the recyclability of the systems is to be improved with new materials.
Several wind turbine manufacturers, including the Danish group Vestas and the Spanish company Siemens Gamesa, have already announced sustainability concepts. According to this, they want to build “waste-free” wind turbines with recyclable rotor blades by 2040.
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