Sustainable design and recycling of wind turbines
The aim of the project was to analyze the environmental effects of wind turbines during manufacturing and after disposal in a long term perspective and to give societal recommendations in relation to dismantling, recycling and waste management.
World Energy Council's scenarios for the global wind energy contribution are between 180,000 MW and 470,000 MW in 2020. Wind power is planned to play an important role in the future Danish supply of electricity (ca. 50% power consumption in year 2030 corresponding to 5500 MW). The project will seek to describe the environmental impact of manufacturing these machines from now on and until 2030. Furthermore the project will seek to describe and quantify the environmental challenges of decommissioning this considerable number of wind turbines in the time range of 2040 to 2050. The objectives of the project are: 1) analysis of wind turbines' environmental impact during manufacturing and decommissioning in a long term perspective. 2) societal recommendations concerning decommissioning, recycling and handling of waste for existing and future wind turbine concepts and components. 3) contribution to the development of methodologies for LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) - partly concerning nomination of experts and scanning of relevant information and partly concerning long term perspectives. The project are based on: 1) analyses on environmental effects of wind turbines through an LCA with focus on manufacturing and decommissioning, and 2) analyses on long term technological and environmental issues using the methodologies of Technology Foresight (technology scanning, nomination of expert panels, trend analysis, scenario building)
The time perspective was 2040-2050. The project has had three main results: 1)A methodology has been developed for analyzing potential long term environmental effects of wind turbines during manufacturing and after their disposal. This combination of the methodological frameworks of LCA and Technology Foresight is a novel approach. 2) The future wind technology has been analyzed together with its environmental effects during manufacturing and after disposal. 3) Recommendations have been made on how to mitigate such environmental effects and a initial step has been taken towards an IEA recommendation or best practice on the area
Key figures
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Participants
| Partner | Subsidy | Auto financing |
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Contact
P.O. Box 49
DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Dannemand Andersen, Per (programleder), 46775100,
Øvr. Partnere: Elsamprojekt A/S
