An official website of the United States government
Wind energy is widely deployed and will likely grow in service of reducing the world’s dependency on fossil fuels. The first generation of wind turbines are now coming to the end of their service lives, and there are limited options for the reuse or recycling of the composite materials they are made of. Current literature has verified that there is no existing recycling pathway (i.e., mechanical, chemical, thermal methods of recovery, etc.) for end-of-life materials in wind blades that can meet cost parity with landfilling in the US. However, to the authors’ knowledge there is no study to date that uncovers the cost structures associated with repurposing wind turbine blades in the US. Repurposing could offer a cost-competitive advantage through displacement of higher-value products, rather than materials or chemical constituents alone. This study implements life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCC) to assess the environmental and financial implications at each stage of repurposing wind turbine blades as the primary load-carrying elements for high-voltage transmission line structures in the United States. This case study contribution to knowledge is based on the successful management of construction waste by analyzing an application for repurposing construction demolition waste. Specifically, this study presents an environmental and financial analysis of repurposing wind turbine blades as transmission line poles. Under this case study, our results show that BladePoles have lower greenhouse gas emissions than steel poles, and we anticipate BladePoles will be less costly than steel poles. Overall emissions are most sensitive to combustion emissions, driven primarily by transportation distance and hours of required crane operations during the installation process. Compared to other evaluated recycling methods, repurposing wind blades as BladePoles has the least overall global warming potential.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on May 1, 2026
Contextualizing Wind Turbine Blade Waste: Comparison to Other Global Waste Streams
Worldwide wind energy generation capacity has grown rapidly over the past several decades, and wind turbines installed at the beginning of this wave of growth are approaching the end of their design lifetimes. As an increasing number of wind power plants reach their end of life, both decommissioning and repowering (i.e., dismantling or refurbishing existing turbines and commissioning new ones) will produce waste material from the retired wind turbines, foundations, and balance of plant. However, the amount and type of waste, particularly for wind blades, is often mischaracterized. Although wind turbine components are largely recyclable, the blades are typically made of fiberglass composites, which can present challenges for material recovery and reuse. Within the USA, the accumulation of wind turbine blades in landfills has raised questions about whether the continued expansion of wind energy is sustainable if it results in substantial future waste. This study compares the mass and volume of potential global wind blade waste to other waste streams. It also discusses the materials used to manufacture wind turbine blades and summarizes current options for material redesign, recycling (recovery and reuse), repurposing, and disposal of used blades. The analysis indicates that, although wind turbine blades could represent 14% of the composite market by 2027, the potential future mass and volume of wind turbine blade waste is relatively small compared to other industries. These findings suggest that although the development of scalable, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable methods for wind turbine manufacturing, repurposing, and recycling is important, it may make sense to take advantage of synergies among multiple industries in recycling composite waste, rather than focusing solely on wind turbine blades. From a global perspective, larger sustainability, recycling, and waste stream reduction impacts can be made in other industries, such as transportation and construction.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1916715
- PAR ID:
- 10656915
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAMPE Journal
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SAMPE Journal
- Volume:
- 61
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0091-1062
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 16 to 27
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Wind Turbine Blade Waste
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The rapid growth in wind energy technology has led to an increase in the amount of thermosetting FRP composite materials used in wind turbine blades that will need to be recycled or disposed of in the near future. Calculations show that 16.8 million tons of waste from wind blades will need to be managed globally by 2030, increasing to 39.8 million tons by 2050. Three waste management route are possible: disposal, recycling or reusing. Currently, most FRP composites taken out of service are disposal of in landfills or are incinerated. Recycling options consist of reclamation of the constituent fibers or the resins by thermo–chemical methods or recycling of small pieces of granular FRP material as filler material by cutting, shredding or grinding. Reuse options consist of reusing the entire FRP blade or large parts of the blade in new structural applications. This paper reports on the potential for reusing parts of wind turbine blades in new or retrofitted architectural and civil infrastructure projects. The paper introduces the geometry, materials, and laminates typically used in wind blades and provides a snapshot of the sizes of wind blades likely to be available from the inventory of active turbines. Because the materials and manufacturing of commercial wind blades are proprietary, generic blade geometries and materials are discussed. These come from the Sandia National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the United States, and from OPTIMAT in the European Union. The paper presents an example of the geometry and material properties of structural elements cut from wind blades, using the Numerical Manufacturing and Design Tool (NUMAD), published by the Sandia National Laboratory.more » « less
-
The rapid growth in wind energy technology has led to an increase in the amount of thermosetting FRP composite materials used in wind turbine blades that will need to be recycled or disposed of in the near future. Calculations show that 4.2 million tons of waste from wind blades will need to be managed globally by 2035, increasing to 16.3 million tons by 2055. Three waste management route are possible: disposal, recycling or reusing. Currently, most FRP composites taken out of service are disposal of in landfills or are incinerated. Recycling options consist of reclamation of the constituent fibers or the resins by thermo–chemical methods or recycling of small pieces of granular FRP material as filler material by cutting, shredding or grinding. Reuse options consist of reusing the entire FRP blade or large parts of the blade in new structural applications. This paper reports on the potential for reusing parts of wind turbine blades in new or retrofitted architectural and civil infrastructure projects. The paper introduces the geometry, materials, and laminates typically used in wind blades and provides a snapshot of the sizes of wind blades likely to be available from the inventory of active turbines. Because the materials and manufacturing of commercial wind blades are proprietary, generic blade geometries and materials are discussed. These come from the Sandia National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the United States, and from OPTIMAT in the European Union. The paper presents a method for generating the geometry and material properties of structural elements cut from wind blades, using the Numerical Manufacturing and Design Tool (NUMAD), published by the Sandia National Laboratory.more » « less
-
This paper describes repurposing projects using decommissioned wind turbine blades in bridges conducted under a multinational research project entitled “Re-Wind”. Repurposing is defined by the Re-Wind Network as the re-engineering, redesigning, and remanufacturing of a wind blade that has reached the end of its life on a turbine and taken out of service and then reused as a load-bearing structural element in a new structure (e.g., bridge, transmission pole, sound barrier, seawall, shelter). The issue of end-of-life of wind turbine blades is becoming a significant sustainability concern for wind turbine manufacturers, many of whom have committed to the 2030 or 2040 sustainability goals that include zero-waste for their products. Repurposing is the most sustainable end-of-life solution for wind turbine blades from an environmental, economic, and social perspective. The Network has designed and constructed two full-size pedestrian/cycle bridges—one on a greenway in Cork, Ireland and the other in a quarry in Draperstown, Northern Ireland, UK. The paper describes the design, testing, and construction of the two bridges and provides cost data for the bridges. Two additional bridges that are currently being designed for construction in Atlanta, GA, USA are also described. The paper also presents a step-by-step procedure for designing and building civil structures using decommissioned wind turbine blades. The steps are: project planning and funding, blade sourcing, blade geometric characterization, material testing, structural testing, designing, cost estimating, and construction.more » « less
-
Abstract Existing estimations of waste from wind energy infrastructure that is headed for, flowing through, or having reached the terminus of various post-processing pathways have primarily relied on reported capacity to extrapolate the material weight of turbine components. This data can be used to project future streams of composite blade material coming from wind farm repowering and decommissioning and inform policies to optimize or improve certain blade End of Life (EoL) options. However, rated capacity alone is insufficient to quantify or characterize the dynamics of US wind fleet retirement, since turbines are often repowered with new blades but their capacity remains the same. This research demonstrates an alternative method, comparing various mass estimation techniques and identifying blade models that have been retired or are soon to enter waste pathways due to turbine repowering by spatiotemporal comparison of periodic versions of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB). These analyses are used to compile a list of turbine and blade models that will be at the forefront of national repowering and decommissioning movements in the near future. Mass of future waste flows are totalled and can help inform protocols and frameworks for blade material EoL processes.more » « less
