Disposal Plan Needed for Tonnes of Future Wind Turbine Waste: Expert

"Wind, solar may prove no more sustainable than the old technologies they aim to replace"

Cattle are seen in front of wind turbines at the Taralga Wind Farm in Taralga, Australia, on Aug. 31, 2015. Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Over 40 million tonnes of “blade waste” will need to be disposed of worldwide by 2050, spurring engineering and manufacturing experts to call on governments to implement “end of life” plans for the plethora of wind farms now emerging across developed countries.

A new study involving Professor Peter Majewski from the University of South Australia has found that Australia will need to find a way to dispose of “tens of thousands” of wind turbine blades by the end of this decade, particularly as the state and federal governments continue to push for more ambitious net-zero targets.

Currently, wind turbines have a lifespan of around 20 to 25 years and once retired, they are disposed of in one of three ways: recycling, incineration, or dumped into landfills—the latter practice will be banned in Europe by 2025.

Dumping of wind turbine blades is prevalent because of the difficulties with recycling the materials.

Just 30 percent of the carbon fibre or glass fibre composite material used to make wind turbine blades can be reused, with most going into the cement industry as filler material.

“As it is so expensive to recycle them, and the recovered materials are worth so little, it is not realistic to expect a market-based recycling solution to emerge, so policymakers need to step in now and plan what we’re going to do with all these blades that will come offline in the next few years,” Majewski said in a statement on June 20.

Consumers, Businesses To Bear the Cost

The professor is pushing for “product stewardship” models to be adopted—similar to how telecommunications firms offer recycling services for smartphones—and for this to be factored into the cost of wind turbines, which will likely drive up the cost for consumers.

An array of solar panels and wind turbines. Soonthorn/Adobe Stock

“Either the manufacturer must take responsibility for what needs to be done with the blades at the end of their useful life, or the wind farm operators must provide end-of-life solutions as part of the planning approval process for their business operations,” he said.

“There will be some cost to this for everyone involved, but we have to accept that as part of the cost of producing energy in this way,” he added. “Without such solutions, energy options like wind and solar may prove to be no more sustainable than the old technologies they are aiming to replace.”

New Government Invigorates Net Zero Pursuit

The recent change in the federal government in Australia has galvanised renewable energy advocates to pursue more ambitious climate change policies.

The centre-left Labor government has pledged to up the country’s emissions reduction target from 26-28 percent by 2030, to 43 percent.

At the same time, Labor will also attempt to overhaul the energy grid so that 82 percent of Australia’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources (wind, hydro, solar, and biomass, among others). Currently, 64.67 percent (pdf) of electricity comes from coal-fired generation.

State governments have also been heavily supportive of climate change initiatives rolling out policies such as state-level net-zero targets, declarations of “climate emergencies,” establishing wider electric vehicle charging networks, and restricting the development of oil and coal power generators.

Tesla electric vehicle charging stations in Bathurst, Australia on Apr. 7, 2021. Daria Nipot/Adobe Stock

Yet the pursuit of green technology and massive investments in solar panels and battery storage will bear their own cost.

Australia alone will retire 100,000 tonnes of solar panels by 2035, most of which are destined for landfills. But, like wind turbines, recycling solar panels is a costly and time-consuming exercise for businesses.

In terms of lithium-ion batteries, the CSIRO estimates that Australia generates around 3,300 tonnes of battery waste per year, which could reach 100,000 tonnes by 2036. Currently, only two percent of the waste is recycled.

Further, building more solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries would also increase reliance on Chinese supply chains, where much of the raw materials or finished products are sourced.

On top of this, Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom found that Xinjiang Province in China’s west was responsible for producing 45 percent of the world’s polysilicon—95 percent of solar modules need this material. The region has been heavily scrutinised for its persecution of the Uyghur minority.

“All polysilicon manufacturers in the Uyghur region have reported their participation in [forced] labour transfer programmes and/or are supplied by raw materials companies that have,” the study found.

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