Early-stage ventures from Tennessee in the U.S. to Cambridge in the U.K. are researching ways to use heat and nanoparticles to improve the economics of recycling fibers from wind turbine blades. Yet costs must come down for recycling to be a feasible option for the industry. At the same time, the opportunity for recyclers is about to get very big. The first wave of wind turbines installed in the 1990s will soon start to reach the end of their 25-year lifespan, leading to a build-up of turbine waste for the industry to resolve. By 2025, each year some 25,000 metric tons of wind turbine blades will reach the end of their operational life – equivalent to the weight of almost 2,000 double-decker buses, according to trade association WindEurope. Germany and Spain are first in line for the most decommissioned blades.
The incoming wall of turbine waste is attracting the attention of manufacturers like Siemens Games aand Vestas, and developers including Orsted. Vestas aims to produce zero-waste wind turbines by 2040, while Orsted has committed to sustainable reuse or recycling of blades. A rising number of national tenders for wind energy now call for greater recyclability.
France stipulates that 40% of the rotor mass of wind turbines be recyclable from July 2022, with that proportion set to increase. Currently, some 85-90% of a wind turbine can be recycled through established metals processing, but the fiber composites that make up the blades remain difficult to process. The chemical resins that bond the glass fiber together cannot be broken down through mechanical recycling, while in most cases thermal recycling is not economically feasible.