After decades of operating around the world for the few wealthy and less populated countries, wind turbines continue to have a live expectancy of about 20 years. To date, there has yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those wind turbines. As a result, today’s old wind turbines are being dumped into toxic waste dumps.
Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem. Globally by 2050 projections are that there will be 43 million tons of blade waste produced EVERY YEAR – the equivalent of 215,000 locomotives.
By the turn of the century in 2100, the world population is projected to be more than 11 billion from its current 8 billion.
The world’s population in 2100 is projected to be dominated by India, Nigeria, China, the US, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Tanzania.
Noticeable by their absence from the population list are countries that are wealthier but less populated like Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Russia.
As wind farms age, the turbines begin to break down and require maintenance. However, due to the high costs associated with removing them, many companies are choosing to leave them in place. This poses several problems, including the potential for oil leaks from the turbines, and the overall negative impact on the landscape.
The first generation of wind turbines are starting to reach the end of their service lives, while others are replaced early to make way for newer technology – including longer turbine blades that can sweep more wind and generate more intermittent electricity – the question of what to do with their huge blades becomes more pressing.
These abandoned wind turbines pose significant environmental and safety risks, as they can leak toxic chemicals and other hazardous materials into the surrounding environment and can even collapse or catch fire.
The life cycle for renewables runs from design, procurement and construction through operations and maintenance, and repair, as well as the life-ending decommissioning and disposal or recycling and restoration of the landscaping back to its original pristine condition.
It’s time for those few wealthy governments to “clean up” their previous subsidised programs for intermittent electricity and act to subsidise the development of methods to properly decommission wind turbines before they become a larger environmental crisis.
The governments that subsidised the designing and construction have the responsibility to seek decommissioning, restoration, and recycling standards down to the last dandelion, just like we have for decommissioned mines, oil, and nuclear sites.
Wind farms are typically located in areas with consistent wind patterns. For the vast acreage required for wind and solar, it’s a pathetic destruction of pristine landscapes!
The American public has been speaking through the not-in-my-backyard (“NIMBY”) individuals, and expressing their discontent with such features as unsightliness, extensive acreage requirements, noise, and environmental risks to the community.
Read More: Wind turbines are an eyesore, a hazard and an environmental disaster