End-of-life wind blades and the Port of Aalborg

Europe's first wind turbines have reached the end of their operating life, and the blade is the component the supply chain still does not treat at scale. The reposted publication revisits the Port of Aalborg, in Denmark, where a decommissioned blade became a bicycle shelter, a Re-Wind Network case documented since September 2021.

The case gives one part a destination and does not say who pays to treat the volume. WindEurope, in its 16 June 2021 position calling for a Europe-wide landfill ban on blades, projected around 25,000 tonnes of blades reaching end of life per year by 2025, a volume that could double to 52,000 tonnes by 2030, and recorded that 85% to 90% of a turbine's mass already has an established recycling route, which does not apply to the blade.

While that route is neither mature nor cost-competitive, removal, transport and disposal sit in the owner's operation and maintenance budget, on an asset with a 20 to 25 year life. One-off repurposing moves a part and does not change the provision.

The end-of-life cost of a wind farm is decided by the contracted industrial treatment route, not by the number of parts repurposed.