End-of-life wind turbine blades and paths to a circular economy

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dc.contributor.authorDeeney, Peteren
dc.contributor.authorLeahy, Paul G.en
dc.contributor.authorCampbell, Kevinen
dc.contributor.authorDucourtieux, Claireen
dc.contributor.authorMullally, Gerarden
dc.contributor.authorDunphy, Niall P.en
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderIrish Research Councilen
dc.contributor.funderSustainable Energy Authority of Irelanden
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-26T14:41:49Z
dc.date.available2025-02-26T14:41:49Z
dc.date.issued2025en
dc.description.abstractA structured literature review is used to identify barriers to the recommended methods of processing end-of-life wind turbine blades. The Waste Management Hierarchy recommends firstly avoidance, then repurposing, recycling, energy recovery and lastly, disposal. The review finds that most recent research articles are concerned with recycling, despite its position in third place in the Hierarchy. The review also identifies the following barriers to the first, second and third most recommended processes: misalignment of financial rewards for blade manufacturers making more durable blades; lack of information about blades which could help repurposing and recycling; and lack of financial incentives for any of the top three methods. Based on these findings the following solutions are proposed: alternative payment structures for blade ownership incentivising blade quality and longevity; an information exchange to facilitate the second hand market, repurposing and recycling; and the widespread use of compliance bonds to provide a financial incentive for repurposing and recycling.en
dc.description.sponsorshipIrish Research Council (Pathway Programme, Ireland: IRC*21/PATH-A/9348); Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (IEA Wind Task 45)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid115418en
dc.identifier.citationDeeney, P., Leahy, P.G., Campbell, K., Ducourtieux, C., Mullally, G. and Dunphy, N.P. (2025) ‘End-of-life wind turbine blades and paths to a circular economy’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 212, 115418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.115418en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.115418en
dc.identifier.endpage16en
dc.identifier.journaltitleRenewable and Sustainable Energy Reviewsen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17127
dc.identifier.volume212en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme/16/US/3334/IE/Re-use and Recycling of Decommissioned Composite Material Wind Turbine Blades/en
dc.rights© 2025, the Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectWind turbine bladesen
dc.subjectWaste management hierarchyen
dc.subjectCircular economy business modelsen
dc.subjectRepurposingen
dc.subjectRecyclingen
dc.subjectCompliance bondsen
dc.subjectAssurance bondsen
dc.titleEnd-of-life wind turbine blades and paths to a circular economyen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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