Sustainable Approaches to Wind Turbine Decommissioning

Activity A3.3 containing the report on the third workshop has been published! 

Aim of the workshop was to research the sustainable approach towards wind turbine decommissioning and recycling, while discussing the current situation in Europe.

The lessons learnt report summarizes the presented work of different stakeholders and companies active in the decommissioning industry, regarding the end-of-life of wind turbines. The rate with which decommissioning will be needed in the following decades is included in the report. The summary report stresses the need to restore the wind farm sites to their original state upon decommissioning phase, implementing this in the original planning phase of the project. Further, the necessity of incorporating proper regulation regarding the recycling of wind turbine blades is addressed, since most European countries lack the legal framework for this issue. Carbon emissions are taken into consideration for a complete image of the sustainability of the decommissioning phase, clarifying that emissions impact the overall life cycle assessment.

Finally, policy recommendations and good practices are formulated providing different paths for governments and developers towards a more sustainable decommissioning of wind turbines.
 

Read the lessons learnt report here!