Regional Representation of Wind Stakeholders' End-of-Life Behaviors and Their Impact on Wind Blade Circularity

Walzberg, Julien; Cooperman, Aubryn; Watts, Liam; Eberle, Annika L.; Carpenter, Alberta; Heath, Garvin A.

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104734

Title: Regional Representation of Wind Stakeholders' End-of-Life Behaviors and Their Impact on Wind Blade Circularity

Journal Article · 09 July 2022 · iScience

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104734 · OSTI ID:1878124

Walzberg, Julien ^[1]; Cooperman, Aubryn ^[2]; Watts, Liam ^[2]; Eberle, Annika L. ^[2];

^[2];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Joint institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, Denver, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Wind plant power has seen tremendous growth in the US and worldwide, representing the most significant renewable energy installed capacity besides hydropower. While wind power enables decarbonizing the electricity grid, the rising amount of end-of-life (EOL) wind blades - which are arduous to recycle - present a challenge for landfills if disposed of whole and a missed opportunity to recover valuable composite materials. The circular economy (CE) concept proposes strategies to rethink, reuse and recover products, components, and materials. However, transitioning to a CE implies changing how business models, supply chains, and behaviors deal with products and waste; changes arduously captured with traditional methods used to assess circularity such as life cycle assessment or material flow analysis (MFA). Here we present an agent-based model (ABM) that captures behavioral aspects impacting wind blade circularity in the US. The ABM also accounts for wind plant projects and landfills heterogeneity - a characteristic not easily included in top-down approaches such as MFA, input-output analysis, or system dynamics. Results show that recycling is divided as most recycling facilities are on the eastern side of the country, a challenge that could be alleviated by shredding blades before transportation. Recycling programs from the wind industry could also seed recycling behaviors within wind plant owners. Better yet, new blade designs could increase circularity if original equipment manufacturers accept the risks involved with the investments needed to adapt the production lines.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Strategic Programs Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1878124

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-6A20-80570; MainId:53959; UUID:a4ef5cb1-5c91-45cc-bedc-1a8dd08a9c75; MainAdminID:64914

Journal Information:: iScience, Journal Name: iScience Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 25; ISSN 2589-0042

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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17 WIND ENERGY
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
agent-based modeling
circular economy
sociotechnical systems
theory of planned behavior
transportation model
wind blades

Title: Regional Representation of Wind Stakeholders' End-of-Life Behaviors and Their Impact on Wind Blade Circularity

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