Wind Turbine Blades to Be Recycled into Photovoltaic Plants

The first wind farms in countries like Spain date back to the mid-1990s. They are still fully operational and use most of the original blades, which says a lot about wind energy and the durability of these infrastructures. However, this is far from an environmental issue. However, the recycling potential offered by wind turbine blades needs to be analyzed to ensure their contribution to environmental sustainability and the circular economy.

This is not only because of the service life of current wind farms, but also because of a term that is starting to be used more and more often: repower. In other words, replacing existing wind turbines with more efficient ones that make better use of the available space. Repowering 100% of a 20-year wind turbine Producing over 29,000 tons of blades per year between 2021 and 2025And although today’s advanced maintenance programs have given wind turbines a useful life of 40 years or more, older components must be disposed of within a circular economy. How can I do this most sustainably?

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What are the elements of a wind turbine?

There are several types of wind turbine designs, but most of them, including those intended to generate offshore wind energy, share the following elements:

• foundationin the case of floating offshore winds, can become an anchor to the seabed.
• towerIt supports the wind turbine structure and is usually manufactured in the form of steel or concrete tubes.
• rotorThe rotating part of the turbine, consisting of the blades and the hub, the central part that connects them.
• nacelleis the heart of the wind turbine and houses the device that converts kinetic energy into electricity.

about 90% of a wind turbine’s mass is easily recyclableTowers and rotors are mostly made of metal, with some towers made of concrete, but are relatively easy to recycle, so the focus is on recycling wind turbine blades, which use composite materials such as fiberglass and resin.

What technologies exist for recycling wind turbine blades?

Various methods are currently being considered for the recycling of these wind turbine parts. Basically you have the following options:

1. mechanicalusing processes such as grinding or pulverization to reduce materials to powder or scrap.
2. thermalusing processes such as pyrolysis or gasification that use high temperatures to obtain industrially usable raw materials.
3. chemistryusing processes such as solvolysis, which uses solvents such as water, alcohols, and acids to separate functional components.

The goal, of course, is to use energy-intensive and non-polluting recycling solutions. In this sense, the process should use renewable energy and avoid emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals.

From Wind to Sun: A Journey of Wind Turbine Blades

The challenge in recycling wind turbine blades is to develop solutions that enable the transition to a circular economy. large scale industrial processIn other words, an ecologically sustainable and economically viable solution. One of the most promising projects in this regard has been implemented at the Extremadura I-II-III photovoltaic complex in Badajoz.

of initial raw material originated from two retired wind turbine blades. micronization Process applied. The material was then formed using a technique called pultrusion. But what exactly are these two techniques?

Micronizing is a pioneering technology in the field of blade recycling, which primarily consists of reducing the size of glass fibers to microns through a mechanical conversion technique. The powder obtained is very versatile and is used as a recycled raw material to manufacture new products. Glass fiber powder is then combined as filler with resin and continuous glass fiber reinforcement through a continuous pultrusion process from the “pull”. After heating in the mold, the desired shape and length profile is obtained.

of Fine powder being used to Create four beams to replace the galvanized pillars that support the photovoltaic panels of the Extremadura PV plant. In other words, zero waste An approach that continues to produce renewable energy using raw materials.

Repurposed wind turbine blades: other uses

In addition to a second life in a solar power plant, there are experiences around the world in recycling wind turbine blades. Some are based on component processing, others cut and reuse segments. Here are some of the more exciting applications we’ve seen for the latter approach.

• Use in columns of electric vehicle charging stations
• Street furniture such as fences, playgrounds, benches, and acoustic panels
• Construction of footbridges and bridges, such as the Blade Bridge in Ireland.
• Bicycle parking shelter like Denmark
• high voltage tower

Thanks to artificial intelligence and robotics, in addition to certain materials such as wind turbine blades and construction materials, recycling in general is undergoing a real revolution. If you want to know more about the future of recycling, you can read this article on some of the most innovative technologies in the field.