Decommissioning/ Recycling of wind turbines

A great amount of turbines are approaching the end of their initial 20 years lifetime. By 2021 alone, 4 GW will lose the EEG subsidy. In some repowering projects turbine decommissioning is required even before reaching 20 years. All of this raises the question of what to do with the dismantled turbines, as only part of them can be sold in the secondary market.

So far, approximately 85% of a wind turbineu2019s components can be recycled or reused. The remaining 15% can mainly be found in the composite materials of the blades. Today 2.5 million tonnes of composite material are in use in the wind sector globally. Making turbines 100% recyclable is therefore an important step towards a circular economy.