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How to reuse wind turbine blades
Today, the useful life of an onshore wind farm is between 20 and 25 years. Of the total mass of a wind turbineIt can be recycled between 85-90%, which is not bad at all.
However,turbine blades or blades are more difficult to recycle. They are built on reinforced materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber and resins, expensive components that are difficult to recycle with current technology.
If we add that the first European wind farms are reaching the end of their useful life, we have a problem! Like solar panels. Especially for Germany, Spain or Denmark, for being "first timers."
The first option is to recycle and plan "B", as it can be… reuse! And, Denmark is getting it right.
Literally, in Denmark, wind turbine blades are recycled into bicycle racks.
The Scandinavian country produces almost half of its electricity with wind turbines. Being one of the first to start wind farms, they had to think of ways to recycle. And its transformation into elements to cover bicycle racks is, to say the least, quite original and useful.
The Danish government turned to various companies to come up with recycling solutions to prevent them from accumulating in landfills.
Among them, one of Re-Wind's projects came in first place. Specialized in promoting innovation in the dismantling of wind farms. Proposed reuse non-biodegradable wind turbine blades to reintegrate them into the urban landscape, in particular as bicycle racks.
Like wind turbines, bicycles have been a part of the Danish landscape for several decades, indeed, it is the main means of transport in the country.
A country that has always been far ahead in terms of ecological transition and that shows once again that it does not lack ingenuity. Even to build a vertical wind farm that will produce 1,000 tons of vegetables per year.
The Re-Wind research project affects different alternatives for recycling wind turbines and blades, which, for the most part, end up in landfills accumulating.
Re-Wind has different projects underway where the possible reuse of blades in architectural and engineering structures, from bike shelters, walkways, utility poles or even as a building material (See innovative building materials).
Also, from Holland in Rotterdam, they propose to us to reconvert a schoolyard with several turbine blades out of service.
But… Do we have so many problems with recycling wind farms in Europe? Well, it seems that things will get serious. What's more, according to Win Europe, around 25,000 tonnes of shovels will reach the end of their operational life - annually - by 2025.
And if we look at the graph in relation to the age of onshore wind farms in Europe.
Of course, we need solutions. Approaches like … «At the Annual Congress of the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE), Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, and Juan Virgilio Márquez, General Director of AEE, asked the European Commission to propose a European ban on the dumping of wind turbine blades out of service. «
It should be emphasized that there are some technologies to recycle composite blade materials, and more and more companies are offering recycling services, but these solutions are not yet mature enough, nor are they available on an industrial scale, nor are they competitive in terms of cost.
For these technologies to be commercially viable, the commitment of policy makers, wind companies in their intention and technological innovation, and the recycling industry will be necessary.
By the way, you can visit our article on plastic recycling machines that you can build yourself with the drawings included.
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