Circular Wind

Summary

Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

Key words

Circular economy; resource and waste management; resource efficiency; wind energy; sustainable development; low-carbon infrastructure; renewable energy; energy transition.

Citation

Velenturf (2021) A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind. Energies, 14(17), 5540.

Link

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175540

Summary

Onshore wind turbines in Europe are increasingly reaching the end of their first lifecycle. Their pathways after decommissioning call for the establishment of circular supply chains (e.g. refurbishment or recycling facilities). Reliable component and material flow forecasts are particularly crucial for the development of blade-recycling capacity, as such facilities still need to be established. However, current forecasts assume a static decommissioning time and neglect a second lifecycle for the wind turbines and their blades, which has resulted in potential recycling quantities being over-estimated. This study overcomes these issues by (i) collecting empirical data on the circular economy pathways taken by decommissioned onshore wind turbines in the mature onshore wind markets of Denmark and Germany, and by (ii) proposing a new component and material flow forecasting model for the more reliable planning of blade-recycling capacity. The results reveal that ∼50–60 % of decommissioned onshore wind turbines in Denmark and Germany were exported mainly to other European countries. If the second lifecycle practices of the past are continued in the future, annual blade masses for domestic recycling are expected to range between ∼380–770 tonnes for Denmark and ∼4400–11,300 tonnes for Germany in the next ten years. This study finds that the threshold values of blade volumes for an economically viable blade-recycling facility can be reached in Germany with its large operating wind-turbine fleet, but the recycling of Danish wind turbine blades would have to rely on aggregating resource flows from other countries or industries. By modelling the cascading order of a sustainable circular economy and the EU Waste Hierarchy Directive, this study improves the decision-making basis for policy makers and companies to achieve sustainable resource use along the wind industry's entire value chain.

Key words

Citation

Kramer, Abrahamsen, Beauson, Hansen, Clausen, Velenturf, Schmidt (2024) Quantifying circular economy pathways of decommissioned onshore wind turbines: The case of Denmark and Germany. Sustainable Production and Consumption, Volume 49, pp179-192.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.06.022

Summary

This document has been prepared in support of IEA Wind Task 45 Subtask 3.1 on “Integrated life cycle assessment with social and economic factors”, Subtask 2.2 on the “Reuse and repurpose of end-of-life wind turbine blades” and Subtask 2.3 on “Recycling and recovery methods”. This document provides a review of all potential blade end-of-life options, at various stages of technical development, including their associated environmental impacts and the identified challenges, barriers and opportunities. The intended audience is wind turbine OEMs, blade manufacturers, asset owners and decommissioning contractors, as well as governments, local authorities and public agencies with responsibility for waste and the circular economy.

Key words

Wind energy; Turbine blades; Decommissioning; End-of-use; Circular economy.

Citation

Leahy, Bank, Deeney, van der Mijle Meijer, Beauson, Travia, Velenturf, Lightfoot, André, Mattsson, ten Busschen, Joustra, Haghani, Jaksic (2023) Blade End-of-Life Treatments: State of the art, Challenges, Barriers and Environmental Impacts. IEA Wind TCP Task 45 Wind Turbine Blade Recycling, Deliverable 2.2.

Link

https://iea-wind.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IEA-Task-45-WP2-D2.2-State-of-the-art-on-EOL-solutions-for-blades-PUBLIC-v1.pdf

Summary

The finite capacity of the Earth to provide the resources needed to make products is beginning to dictate policy decisions and citizen behaviours. Herein a methodology is proposed that considers the function (i.e., efficiency and durability) of a product as a way of normalising and hence justifying its resource use. Titled ‘Performance-weighted abiotic Resource Depletion’ (PwRD), this approach allows the resource use of different products to be directly compared, analogous to an absolute sustainability assessment. The PwRD metric quantifies concerns over the supply risk of elements and indicates reasonable actions to sustain a circular economy. This new format of circularity indicator is explained with the case study of neodymium for wind turbine magnets. Individual products as well as larger infrastructure projects such as wind farms can be assessed. It was found that the electrical energy produced by a wind turbine in the USA does not justify the quantity of neodymium required. Demand for the function of products is a variable in PwRD and is equally important as resource use in sustaining a circular economy. In regions of low electricity demand per capita such as the Philippines and Pakistan, the same quantity of neodymium as used in a wind turbine installed in the USA was found to be acceptable for sustaining a circular economy.

Key words

Citation

Sherwood, Gongora, Velenturf (2022) A circular economy metric to determine sustainable resource use illustrated with neodymium for wind turbines. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 376, 134305.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134305

Summary

Circular business models, aimed at narrowing, slowing, and closing resource loops, can potentially generate significant economic and social benefits, promote resource security and improve environmental performance. However, within the wind power industry, sustainability research, including life cycle assessments, has been focused mostly on technology innovation at the material (e.g. permanent magnets), components (e.g. blades) or product level (e.g. new assets). Research analysing the implementation of circular business models in the wind industry is scarce. Such information could, however, support more robust decision-making in the development of system-level innovations for the deployment of more resource-efficient and sustainable wind energy infrastructure. Building upon practical methods for the identification, categorisation and characterisation of business models, 14 circular business models with application to the wind industry were comprehensively evaluated through the revision of 125 documents, including 56 journal papers, 46 industrial business cases and 23 wind technology management reports. Each circular business model is examined according to i) business offering and drivers, ii) value creation, delivery and capture mechanisms, iii) sustainability benefits and trade-offs, and iv) industrial challenges and opportunities. Accordingly, comprehensive guidelines to drive political (legislation design and implementation), industrial (technology and business innovation) and academic (further research) actions, are provided. Though the results are focussed on the wind industry, the general findings and recommendations are relevant across the renewable and low-carbon energy sector.

Key words

Citation

Mendoza, Gallego-Schmid, Velenturf, Jensen, Ibarra (2022) Circular economy business models and technology management strategies in the wind industry: Sustainability potential, industrial challenges and opportunities. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 163, 112523.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112523

Summary

Global decarbonization relies on technologies such as solar and wind energy that require “critical” materials. In this issue of One Earth, Babbitt et al. propose circular economy interventions that preserve critical materials. Here we discuss how the lack of research and industry and policy readiness are challenging the adoption of such practices.

Key words

Wind energy; Sustainability; Circular economy; Circular business models; Critical materials.

Citation

Velenturf, Purnell, Jensen (2021) Reducing material criticality through circular business models: Challenges in renewable energy. One Earth, 4, pp350-352.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.02.016

This report examines the challenge of wind turbine blade end‑of‑life management and sets out pathways towards a circular economy for the wind sector. Composite blades made from glass and carbon fibre reinforced plastics remain difficult to recycle. With the first generation of wind farms reaching the end of their operating lives, blade waste is set to grow rapidly in the UK and globally.

Citation

Bennet, Hailey, Lomoro, Fitzgerald, Fuller, Lightfoot, Velenturf, Trifonova (2021) Sustainable decommissioning: Wind turbine blade recycling. Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

Link

https://cms.ore.catapult.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CORE_Full_Blade_Report_web.pdf

Summary

This article elucidates the principal causes of risk to taxpayers created by the manner in which ‘security requirements’ are currently deployed by regulators in relation to the decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations (OREIs) in English, Welsh and Scottish waters. It does so to inform policy development pertaining to their more efficacious utilization. In this context, security requirements are a regulatory tool which necessitate that developers/owners evidence their ability to finance decommissioning. Their deployment within the framework that governs the decommissioning of OREIs across the UK has not previously been ‘stress tested’ in the literature. Four causes are identified: excessive regulatory discretion; a flawed focus on financial strength; the dangers of gradual accrual; and uncertainty in decommissioning costing. A series of high-level policy recommendations are presented, several of which may be germane to other sectors and jurisdictions, as to how security requirements may be used more efficaciously to ensure decommissioning is performed.

Key words

Mackie, Velenturf (2021) Trouble on the horizon: Securing the decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations in UK waters. Energy Policy, Volume 157, 112479.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112479

Summary

Development and deployment of low carbon infrastructure (LCI) is essential in a period of accelerated climate change. The deployment of LCI is, however, not taking place with any obvious long term or joined up thinking in respect of life-cycle material extraction, usage and recovery across technologies or otherwise. This proposition is demonstrated through empirical quantification of selected infrastructure and a review of decommissioning plans, as exemplified by offshore wind in the United Kingdom. There is wide acknowledgement that offshore wind and other LCI are dependant on the production and use of many composite and critical materials that can and regularly do inflict high impacts on the environment and society during their extraction and manufacturing. To optimise resource use from a whole system perspective, it is thus essential that the components of LCI and the materials they share and are comprised of, are designed with a circular economy in mind. As such, LCI must be designed for durability, reuse and remanufacturing, rather than committing them to sub-optimal waste management and energy recovery pathways. Beyond a promise to remove installed components, end-of-life decommissioning plans do not however provide any insight into a given operators’ awareness of the nuances of their proposed material management methods or indeed current or future management capacities. Decommissioning plans for offshore wind are at best formulaic and at worst perfunctory and provide no value to the growing movement toward a circular economy. At this time, millions of tonnes of composites, precious and rare earth materials are being extracted, processed and deployed in infrastructure with nothing in place that suggests that these materials can be sustainably recovered, managed and returned to productive use at the potential scales required to meet accelerating LCI deployment. Academic and industry literature, or lack thereof, suggest that this statement is largely reflected throughout LCI deployment and not just within the deployment of offshore wind in the UK.

Key words

Citation

Jensen, Purnell, Velenturf (2020) Highlighting the need to embed circular economy in low carbon infrastructure decommissioning: The case of offshore wind.
Sustainable Production and Consumption, Volume 24, pp 266-280.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.07.012

Summary

Working paper to share the initial outcomes from a structured literature review on challenges and opportunities for sustainable offshore wind development, complemented by results from a global survey held among offshore wind experts in governmental, industry, civil sector, and research and innovation organisations.

Key words

Offshore wind; Sustainability; Circular economy; Structured literature review; Expert survey.

Citation

Velenturf (2020) Challenges and opportunities for sustainable offshore wind development: Preliminary findings from a literature review and expert survey. SRI paper, no. 122.

Link

https://sri-working-papers.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/67/2020/11/SRIPs-122.pdf

Summary

Energy sector policies have focused historically on the planning, design and construction of energy infrastructures, while typically overlooking the processes required for the management of their end-of-life, and particularly their decommissioning. However, decommissioning of existing and future energy infrastructures is constrained by a plethora of technical, economic, social and environmental challenges that must be understood and addressed if such infrastructures are to make a net-positive contribution over their whole life. Here, we introduce the magnitude and variety of these challenges to raise awareness and stimulate debate on the development of reasonable policies for current and future decommissioning projects. Focusing on power plants, the paper provides the foundations for the interdisciplinary thinking required to deliver an integrated decommissioning policy that incorporates circular economy principles to maximise value throughout the lifecycle of energy infrastructures. We conclude by suggesting new research paths that will promote more sustainable management of energy infrastructures at the end of their life.

Key words

Citation

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111677

Summary

Existing energy infrastructure have a technical and/or economic lifecycle predetermined by the lifetime of certain components. In energy infrastructure, the residual lifetime of civil structure or other components with a longer life is usually wasted. Modular energy infrastructure can be reconfigurable decoupling the life of the infrastructure from their modules, and extending module and/or infrastructure lifecycle. Modularisation could become a cornerstone to enable circular economy (CE) and enhanced sustainability. Remarkably, despite the growing interest among policymakers, practitioners and academics in both CE and modularisation, there is a lack of knowledge about the link between CE and modularisation in energy infrastructure. Through a Systematic Literature Review, this paper derives the gap in knowledge regarding the link between CE and modularisation in energy infrastructure. This link is then investigated in other sectors identifying relevant implications such as reduction of construction waste and achievement of the closed-loop material cycle. Furthermore, the case of Yamal Liquefied Natural Gas project is used to compare and contrast two perspectives: “Traditional modularisation” and “Modular CE”. Lastly, the paper discusses existing policies, provides policy recommendations to foster “Modular CE” in energy infrastructure and suggests a research agenda.

Key words

Citation

Mignacca, Locatelli, Velenturf (2020) Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure. Energy Policy, Volume 139, 111371.

Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111371

Summary

Report from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Decommissioning Workshop organised by the University of Leeds, Resource Recovery from Waste programme and Innovate UK. This workshop was organised to gain a better insight into the issue of the decommissioning and resource recovery of low-carbon infrastructures. To maximise values created from low-carbon infrastructures, they must be designed for durability, decommissioning and resource recovery. This will avoid a repeat of the£ 300Bn+ bills facing the taxpayer for the decommissioning of nuclear and North Sea oil infrastructure, enable the recovery of critical materials required for low-carbon components and infrastructure and, importantly, contribute to UK materials security. Meeting this challenge requires the development of disruptive new science, technology and industry business models in a sector where there is a distinct global need and development opportunities, but little experience or expertise.

Key words

Low Carbon Infrastructure, Circular Economy, Decommissioning, Interdisciplinary research.

Citation

Purnell, Velenturf, Jensen, Cliffe, Jopson (2018) Developing technology, approaches and business models for decommissioning of low-carbon infrastructure. Resource Recovery from Waste.

Link

https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/163450/1/Workshop%20proceedings_Decommissioning%20low-carbon%20infrastructures.pdf