With the renewable energy sector growing rapidly on a global scale, as many governments pursue a green transition, the need to recycle more components has become evident. Finding innovative ways to recycle renewable energy equipment could help significantly cut costs and reduce waste, further supporting the sector’s green ambitions. There is great potential for a range of components to be reused and recycled, from solar panels to wind turbines and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. However, greater research and investment must be contributed to the sector to improve practices and make recycling options more accessible.  As interest and investment in renewable energy increase, we are seeing more technological advancements across the sector. Wind turbines have become bigger and more powerful, while solar panels have been getting cheaper and more efficient. This means that old technologies are becoming outdated more quickly, leading to their replacement. Once a renewable energy component reaches the end of its lifecycle, it is normally removed and replaced by something bigger, stronger, and better. What is done with these old components varies massively from country to country. 

Often, old turbine blades or photovoltaic (PV) panels are stockpiled for long periods of time as companies decide what to do with them. Waste from the renewable energy sector is significant, with Europe expected to dismantle around 14,000 wind turbines by the end of the decade. This would result in between 40,000 and 60,000 tonnes of blade waste, according to WindEurope. Meanwhile, in the United States, wind turbine blade waste could reach anywhere between 200,000 to 370,000 tonnes a year by 2050. 

Greater innovation in recycling could help reduce waste and cut costs by putting old components to good use. However, recycling old renewable energy parts is not always so simple. Steel and other materials that can be easily recycled account for around 85 to 90 percent of the makeup of a wind turbine, but the glass fibre or carbon fibre blades are much more complicated to recycle. The difficulties in recycling have not put operators off, with more innovative solutions being seen year on year. In a bid to become more sustainable, after years of discarding old blades and other components, several wind firms have pledged to invest in recycling operations to prevent old components from going to landfill. 

In Scotland, old blades from the Hagshaw Hill windfarm are being recycled to provide a hybrid polymer to be used to produce precast concrete alternatives or replace virgin plastics. Meanwhile, Spanish energy firm Iberdrola aims to transform 10,000 tonnes of blade waste annually at its blade recycling facility on the Iberian Peninsula. It will use glass fibres and resins from the turbines to produce new blades to be used across a range of sectors, from aerospace to construction. 

Related: Spain’s Clean Energy Dilemma

In the solar energy sector, various innovations are being seen. For example, in Brisbane, Australia, solar panels are being transformed into silver and copper. Operators are removing aluminium and wires from PVs that can no longer produce energy to grind them up into plastic, glass, silicon, silver, and copper. Pan Pacific Recycling is now processing around 30,000 panels a year and hopes to eventually increase its annual capacity to 240,000 panels. 

Global solar panel waste is currently far higher than the recycling capacity for this waste, meaning that greater investment is needed in the sector to expand capacity and improve sustainability by preventing old solar panels from going to landfill. In addition, experts suggest that many of the solar panels being replaced with more efficient models are still capable of producing energy and could be reused in a different context rather than discarded. Several startups, such as Australian Second Life Solar, are working to encourage the reuse of old solar panels in alternative settings to provide clean energy and prevent unnecessary waste. 

Some of the greatest advancements have been seen in EV battery recycling, as companies worldwide strive to improve their critical mineral supply chains. The lithium supply used for EV battery production is finite, meaning that once supplies are depleted, we will no longer be able to produce this type of battery. However, extracting the lithium from old EV batteries could allow EV makers to reuse the critical mineral, rather than relying wholly on mining projects for their lithium supply. Other minerals that can be extracted from these batteries include nickel, cobalt, and graphite. 

Various companies from different regions of the world are now investing in expanding and improving recycling practices, although the industry’s recycling capacity still falls far behind the production of new wind turbine blades and solar panels, suggesting that greater funding is needed to accelerate the global component recycling capacity. In addition, governments could encourage companies to invest in recycling activities by introducing stricter rules and regulations on renewable energy waste, thereby helping the industry to become more sustainable. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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