Backlit wind turbine
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Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy said Tuesday it had launched a recyclable wind turbine blade, a move that represents the latest example of how the industry is trying to find ways to reuse materials.
In a statement, the Spanish-German engineering group stated that its recyclable blades were “the world’s first recyclable wind turbine blades ready for commercial use on the high seas.”
Siemens Gamesa said it would work with German public company RWE to install and pilot the blades at the Kaskasi offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, which is expected to begin commercial operations in 2022.
The firm, which has Siemens Energy as its main shareholder, said it was also working with EDF Renewables with the aim of deploying “several sets” of blades “in a future offshore wind farm”.
A similar collaboration is taking place with wpd, a company based in Germany that develops and operates wind farms.
The question of what to do with wind turbine blades when they are no longer needed is a headache for the industry. This is because the sheets of composite materials they are made of can be difficult to recycle, which means that many end up as landfills when their shelf life ends.
As governments around the world try to increase their renewable energy capacity, the number of wind turbines around the world only looks set to grow, which in turn will increase pressure on the sector to find sustainable solutions for shovel removal.
According to Siemens Gamesa, its recyclable blades use a new type of resin that “allows to efficiently separate the resin from the other components at the end of the life of the blade.”
The company said this process, which it described as “smooth,” “protected” the properties of the leaf materials, unlike other existing ways of recycling conventional wind turbine blades. The materials can be reused in new applications after separation. “
In recent years, several major wind power players have announced plans to try to address the issue of what to do with wind turbine blades.
In June, Dane Orsted said it would “reuse, recycle or recover” all turbine blades from its global wind farm portfolio once they are off.
The same month, General Electric’s renewables unit and cement maker Holcim reached an agreement to explore the recycling of wind turbine blades.
In April, it was announced that a collaboration between academia and industry would focus on the recycling of fiberglass products, a measure that could eventually help reduce waste produced by wind turbine blades.
Last December, GE Renewable Energy and Veolia North America signed a “multi-year agreement” to recycle the leaves removed from onshore wind turbines in the United States.
And in January 2020, another wind energy giant, Vestas, said it aimed to produce “zero waste” turbines by 2040.