Germany began installing wind turbines in earnest some 20 years ago. Now that their life has been exceeded, many are being ripped down.
But there’s a big problem about what to do with the leftover carbon and glass-fiber reinforced blades.
A recent report on ZDF German public television explains that currently there’s no plan in place on what to do with the turbine blades, which weigh up to 15 tonnes each.
There’s no way to recycle them to use as raw material for new blades. Currently, the old blades are being shredded and the chips mixed in with concrete.
“You need too much energy and power to shred them,” says Hans-Dieter Wilcken, the operator of a German recycling company.
Burning them is also not an option.
Hazardous waste
The problem with chopping them up is that dangerous carbon fiber particles are produced and pose a threat to human health. Used wind turbine blades have been designated hazardous waste and no one knows how to deal with them.
Currently, 30,000 wind turbines are in operation across Germany and many will have to be dismantled over the next 20 years. That volume alone means over a million tonnes of hazardous waste (30,000 turbines x 3 blades/turbine x 15 tonnes/blade = 1.35 million tonnes).
By 2100, with wind turbine use expected to rise, millions of tonnes of non-recyclable hazardous waste will be left for future generations to deal with – that’s in Germany alone.
Bloomberg: Massive waste “forever”
In the USA, Casper, Wyoming, is currently serving as a landfill for used blades, Bloomberg here reports:
‘The wind turbine blade will be there, ultimately, forever,’ said Bob Cappadona, chief operating officer for the North American unit of Paris-based Veolia Environnement SA, which is searching for better ways to deal with the massive waste. ‘Most landfills are considered a dry tomb.’
‘The last thing we want to do is create even more environmental challenges.’
On top of the hazardous wind turbine blade waste, there’s also the problem of the massive steel-reinforced turbine foundations, which are simply being swept under a layer of dirt as well. These, too, will forever have an impact on ground and groundwater.
Legacy of waste, breathtaking stupidity
Future generations will wonder how dumb their ancestors must have been to opt for a form of energy that blighted the landscape, destroyed ecosystems over vast areas, killed avian wildlife, was an unreliable and expensive energy source, made nearby residents sick, and left millions and millions of tonnes of waste behind.
Never mind all the solar panel waste that is about to be added to that.
Read more at No Tricks Zone
‘The wind turbine blade will be there, ultimately, forever,’ said Bob Cappadona, chief operating officer for the North American unit of Paris-based Veolia Environnement SA, which is searching for better ways to deal with the massive waste. ‘Most landfills are considered a dry tomb.’
I have an idea to consider–stop building and installing these ugly and unreliable producers of electricity. Same goes with the other non-recyclable solar panels. Build the new generation nuclear plants to produce reliable base electricity while using gas-fired plants for the times load increases since they can be brought up and shut down quickly.
Best comment I have seen for a long time. You even mention balancing the Grid. How good is that, must of those “Green” Morons haven’t even heard of this. They think that….,Sorry they don’t think. I shut up already. Stop building and installing this c r a p. It does nobody any good whichever way you turn it.
What about the concrete bases for the defunct wind turbines?
Wind turbines are not enviroemntaly friendly their hazard to Birds like Eagles and Condors and they can not be recycled those Eco-Freaks who support Wind Farms have sold out to the liberal screwballs and if the Audubon Society still supports Wind Turbines they have sold out t o a liberal idiotic ideology
They are dangerous for Spurwing Plovers too.
The entire global warming/climate change movement has charged on with little thought or planning. The net zero objective there still is no way to provide power when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Energy grids powered by a large amount of wind and solar power are very marginal and can’t support a large increase in electric cars. Phasing out fossil fuel cars will mean many families won’t be able to afford a car. It is the low income families that suffer most when action on climate change sends the cost of power through the roof.
Obviously you’re unaware of Roth International in Germany which has been recycling wind turbine blades for years.
And did the industry technical specification escape your attention too… DIN SPEC 4866.