Contributions to Collections

How critical is wind energy?

Abstract

Wind energy is known as renewable energy which often correlates to sustainable energy supply. Recently the awareness of the public for components to construct wind turbines has risen. The majority of materials in wind turbines represents steel and concrete which are known for being available on long term and are even easy to recycle.
Looking at material supply for the electronic part of the wind turbine we identify critical metals in the nacelle, respectively the generator. Besides the importance of the rare earth element neodym for gearless drive technology only few information is available for a detailed metal content in wind turbines. A similar picture is available by looking on the rotor blades. The percentage of rotor blade mass compare to the whole wind turbine is quite small but the costs represents about one quarter of the whole turbine costs. Additional the recycling of rotor blades is not solved at all. No producer responsibility applies to rotor blade producers since the technology is new and considered as sustainable technology. Only few information is available on rotor blade recycling while the mass of recycling material is growing every day. The answer in Germany for rotor blade recycling is often: repowering. But can this be the solution for sustainability by looking just at the next user who is buying and running our old wind turbines? What is happening with the wind turbines after their second life cycle?
The presentation will present a study on materials needed for an operating wind energy plant. We focus on materials availability in the future and highlight critical materials. The recycling possibility is also included in this paper.