Authors
Sohn, Joshua; Govindan, Kannan; Birkved, Morten
Abstract
The wind power sector has been growing steadily over the last several decades, and it is predicted to grow in the future. One significant challenge that is beginning to emerge from this growth is the need for effective end of life solutions for wind turbines, and most specifically the challenge of handling the composites found in wind turbine blades. In order to begin to tackle this challenge, and to create effective management approaches, an understanding of the material flows from decommissioning wind turbine blades is necessary. To that end, a model is presented to predict the material flows from decommissioned wind turbine blades in Denmark, illustrating how simplified service-life based modelling is insufficient to capture the decommissioning of wind turbine blades. Utilizing empirically based decommissioning rates in the developed waste material prediction model, a prediction of Danish wind turbine blade end of life material flows through to the year 2050 is also carried out.