At the end of a wind turbine’s life, components such as towers and nacelles can be recycled, but blades are often landfilled. Vestas aims to commercialize a new chemical process that can dismantle and reuse all epoxy-based turbine blades.
Wind power is already becoming an important part of the renewable energy mix, with more projects coming online and producing larger turbines. Unfortunately, when turbine blades reach the end of their life, they end up in landfills. This is a big problem, and WindEurope estimates that about 25,000 tonnes of turbine blades will be retired each year from 2025, and by 2030 he could increase to 52,000 tonnes.
We have seen scientists and energy companies come up with new recipes to make used turbines recyclable, and a new solution from the CETEC coalition is expected in 2021 by Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Olin Corporation, Danish Technological Institute, and Aarhus University – Eliminate the need to redesign blades and reuse all used epoxy-based turbines currently in use or already in landfills.
Lisa Ekstrand, Vice President and Head of Sustainability at Vestas, said: “In the future, we can look at older epoxy-based blades as a source of raw materials. When this new technology is implemented at scale, it will replace traditional blade materials currently in landfills and active wind turbines. The power plant blade material can be dismantled and reused.”
This progress depends on the development of new chemical processes by the Troels Skrydstrup group at Aarhus University, other CETEC members and project partners. The process uses widely available chemicals to break down the epoxy resin and recover it as virgin grade raw material for use in manufacturing new turbines and other products.
Having established a value chain with Stena Recycling and Olin, Vestas plans to scale up and commercialize the process.
Source: Vestas
