Wind turbine blades are a new type of emerging waste

Renewable energies also generate waste during their use. Solar panels out of use, old boilers or, as in this case we are going to talk about, wind turbine blades.

In Spain, about 4.500 blades used by wind turbines to generate wind energy they will no longer be suitable and will have to be treated in the next 8 years. To make the most of the material used in the blades, it will have to be recycled, since 60% of the Spanish wind farm is "in the second half of its useful life." Do you want to know more about the blades of disused wind turbines?

Spanish wind farm

Javier Díaz is the director of safety, health and sustainability of Energías De Portugal Renovables (EDPR) and has ensured that 60% of the wind farm in Spain is in its second half of its useful life, that is estimated between 20 and 25 years more.

Along with solar energy, wind energy has been one of the best bets for the renewables sector in Spain since 2000. That is why the intense activity of wind farms has created a type of «emerging ». It is nothing more and nothing less than the blades of wind turbines. To try to recycle as much as possible the materials from which the wind turbine and its blades are created, a technology designed for this will be used.

Blade recycling technology

Thanks to the recycling technology of the wind turbine blades, the environmental impact of wind energy is reduced, which was already little. This technology is the R3fiber system, a process developed by Thermal Recycling of Composites, a subsidiary of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) designed to design recycling technologies for composite materials.

With the resins of the wind turbine blades they can create liquid fuels and combustible gases, obtaining glass or carbon fibers that can be reused. Although in principle "there are no limitations on the use of recycled materials or on material management”, Díaz has recognized that“ its destination, without legislation that defines it at present, will have to be found in warehouses and deposits ”in the vicinity of the wind farms.