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Deep dive into myths against renewables (Part 1): "Wind turbines are ending up in landfills and therefore polluting the environment"
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Let's get right into it:
You may have read things like this or saw pictures of wind turbines ending up in landfills.
There have already been several reports of wind turbine blades ending up in landfills at the end of the last decade (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3), but this mostly gained traction after a report from Bloomberg in February 2020, which generated a lot of follow up articles from smaller publications and therefore it spread via Social Media to become a common talking point against wind turbines (Source 1, Source 2).
And this is basically the argument: Wind Turbines are actually destroying the environment as they end up in landfills and can’t be recycled.
1.) In reality, almost all of the wind turbine itself can be and gets recycled
When this argument gets mentioned, it often neglects that it’s mostly the wind turbine blades which ended up in landfills, because they are mainly build out of composite materials / fiberglass, which are hard to break up and recycle.
But a wind turbine consists of a nacelle, tower and foundation as well, which actually make up most of the materials. Here’s the breakdown of raw materials needed to create a wind turbine (without the foundation, I’ll get to this later):
Source 1: steel (69% - 79%), fiberglass (11% - 16%), iron (5% - 17%), copper (1%), aluminum (0% - 2%)
Source 2: steel/iron (84% - 89%), glass/carbon composites (4% - 9%), polymer (3% - 4%), copper/alloys (1%), aluminum/alloys (1%), electronics (1%), oil/coolant (0% - 1%)
As you can see, a wind turbine is mostly made from abundant metals which can be easily recycled.
Furthermore, one wind turbine can be assembled in a single day, as it’s just stacking pre-assembled parts on top of each other (timelapse video of this), then the nacelle and then the blades. Therefore, the disassembly of a wind turbine is just as straightforward, easy and fast, it's the same process backwards (video of this).
Therefore, power companies like Ørsted have already been able to recycle 85% to 95% of their wind turbines – mostly the steel. (Source)
If you need a visual example, here’s French renewable company Kallista Energy with a 2022 video about the wind turbine recycling: (Source)
2.) Ok, but that doesn’t solve the problem with blades ending up in landfills
If you watch closely, all articles at the begin of this post are now 3 to 6 years old. What happened in the meantime is that wind turbine manufacturers and other companies in the industry actually developed ways to recycle the wind turbine blades as well.
• US Company Veolia signed an agreement with General Electric in December 2020 to “to recycle its onshore wind turbine blades in the United States.” Another quote: “More than 90% of the blade will be reused: 65% as raw material in the cement plants, and 28% transformed into energy required for the chemical reaction in the kiln.” (Source)
• US Company Carbon Rivers for example “has already upcycled more than 100 tons of wind turbine blades into various manufacturing materials” (Source). As of September 2022, they are also “in the process of opening a facility that can recycle 5,000 blades, weighing 10 tons each, annually.” (Source) (company website)
• Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa announced in 2021 that they started the production of their proprietary “RecyclableBlade, the world’s first wind turbine blade that can be recycled at the end of its lifecycle”. (Source 1, Source 2)
• A even better solution was presented by wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, which announced in 2022 that they developed a chemical process to break down the materials, which not only can be used for new blades, but old blades as well. Quote: “Vestas’ solution is enabled by a novel chemical process that can chemically break down epoxy resin into virgin-grade materials. (...) Once mature, the new solution will provide Vestas with the opportunity to produce new turbine blades made from re-used blade material. In the future, the new solution also signals the possibility to make all epoxy-based composite material a source of raw material for a broader circular economy, potentially encompassing industries beyond wind energy.” (Source)
Therefore, technology evolved and this talking point is outdated, especially going into the future as the recycling is scaling up.
3.) Now lets talk about the foundation
A thing that often gets ignored by everyone is the foundation of wind turbines. The foundation makes up to 75% of the mass needed for a onshore wind turbine. (Source)
Of that, on average, concrete makes up 93-95% of onshore foundations, the remainder being unalloyed to low-alloy steel. (Source) Both materials, which, generally, can be easily recycled.
First of all, even with that in mind, let’s put the wind turbine industry into context regarding this:
“Construction and demolition waste (CDW) are one of the heaviest and most voluminous waste streams generated in the EU. 380 million tons is being produced in the EU each year, and this accounts for approximately 25-30% of all waste generated in the EU” (Source)
“According to WindEurope’s estimates, some 3.7 million tons of CDW could be created by decommissioning 9 GW of wind farms by 2030*.”* (Source)
So, this report is from 2020 and it estimates around 3.7 million tons of CDW for the entire decade. 380 million tons of CDW are produced yearly, which is around 3,800 million tons for the decade. So, decommissioned wind turbines are estimated to account to 0.097% of the waste overall, which, in the grand scheme of things, is a tiny tiny amount.
Second, these foundations aren’t that large (like 15m – 20m in diameter) as they’re just heaped up with earth again and vegetation and grass starts to grow around them again (example, example). In that sense, they don’t take up more space than your average house and garage, or “destroy” the vegetation around it. That said, some manufacturers choose a wider diameter, mostly for easier access with cars, which still isn't much space lost to vegetation.
Finally, decommissioning of wind turbines and therefore the concrete foundations is mostly regulated by the law in a particular country or state, here are some examples:
• US State Montana mandates the “Removal of concrete foundations and slabs to at least 36 inches” (Source).
• Texas legislature (House Bill 2845) requires “Wind Developer’s decommissioning responsibilities (...) for each tower foundation, pad-mount transformer and buried cable that is installed, cleaning, clearing and removal to a depth of at least three feet below the surface grade” (Source)
• French “law requires the complete excavation of concrete foundations for wind turbines except in cases where the environmental balance sheet is unfavourable”. (Source) Here’s a timestamped video of Kallista Energy doing it for example: https://youtu.be/VQQhf0k4H_0?t=160
• For all of the EU: “Under the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), at least 70% by weight of non-hazardous CDW must be reused or recycled by 2020.” (Source)
Therefore, companies are mostly obliged by law to remove the foundations and in the EU, also to recycle the material.
Overall, the argument that wind turbines at the end of their life time are "destroying the environment because they mostly end up in landfills" is demonstrably outdated or outright wrong.
Top Comment: Thanks for this. The campaign against sustainability is no doubt from the deep pockets that profit from the status quo. But unlike wind/solar/nextgen nuclear where there is more and more improvement and breakthroughs occurring every day, these people want us to keep burning stuff. Prometheus, thanks for the fire, but that alone can never take us into the future.
Does anyone have any tips for running with and against wind?
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Where I live it’s really windy and I would like some tips, thank you
Top Comment: still dont know. running into the wind fills me with so much anger its incredible
Getting into Offshore Wind
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I think I've applied >45 times over 4 years to various companies... no luck at all. I went the Uni route did Mechanical Engineering now with 2 years post grad experience in a Service Engineering role doing mechanical, electrical and hydraulic work, still cant seem to get into the industry. If I pay for my own GWO's will that help me see the light of day or is it a waste or money since companies will pay for them anyway and just need more experience?
Top Comment: Former wind recruiter here. Getting your GWOs is certainly a good way to go - it shows you’re serious about getting into the wind sector. The issue is, with offshore wind there’s a level of “dependability” they look for and it’s so hard to get in without the experience to back it up and especially so without knowing other techs and people in the sector. Honest advice is get on linked in, network and post a lot about your desire to get in. I would advise you to try and get a permanent onshore job, but lots of those require NVQ/C&G Level 3s in Mech/Electrical engineering
UK Is Paying £1 Billion to Waste a Record Amount of Wind Power
Main Post: UK Is Paying £1 Billion to Waste a Record Amount of Wind Power
Top Comment: Long story short, our grid is crap and unable to cope when wind energy is very high. Which is a problem in itself however the bigger problem is that the grid cannot effectively distribute electricity. It’s not just a case of wind overproducing compared to demand, it’s that our grid is so old and outdated we cannot move electricity to where it’s needed. So for example, there are areas of cumbria that aren’t able to benefit from wind energy produced off the coast of Yorkshire. Despite geographically being closer than other areas that it can be distributed to. This means that even when wind could meet our entire demand (and be exported) we can’t because the grid can’t handle it. Thus we waste potential green energy (and money). But also we still need to run gas plants for the areas where wind can’t reach. So we pay even more. The above is a simplified explanation. But ultimately Power infrastructure needs to be rapidly deployed, and should be automatically given development consent orders to remove planning bureaucracy.
Curious what yal made your first year in wind and what you’re currently getting paid at.
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No need to name the company just want to know first year $/hr vs currents. How many years to get in your position. What’s your experience prior to getting into wind
First year $30/hr. 6 months into and I’m at $32/hr. Auto mechanic exp and attended Airstreams renewables
Top Comment: I made double building wind farms. Never made much as a technician