Reception of the wind blade takes place on TRC installations, where pilot plant is located. In these installations operations of cutting, segregation and selection of the wind blade components are performed, separating segments of glass fiber, carbon fiber nucleus, copper from lightning rod system, etc
After producing thousands of clean and sustainabler energy kilovats, and saving the emmission of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, one of the wind blades from number 19 wind mill in Bont Vent Vilalba (property of EDPR) came to the end of its life cycle.
Unlike the rest of the elements that composes the wind mill, wind blades, once come to the end of their life cycle, do not have a efficient managment system, and their valorization is a challenge that has been not solved until now. The nature of their composition and the employed materials to their manufacturing (glass or carbon fibers, thermohardened resins, sandwich structures, coatings, etc.) make these reinforced materials very hard to recycle. Despite the attempts made in some companies and technological centres, nowadays wind blades are the only element from wind sector that cannot be recycled. The absence of a viable technology causes that wind blades, when come to the end of their life cycle, are dumped in landfills.
But, exception to the common practice, landfill will not be the destination of the wind blade from number 19 wind mill in Bon Vent Vilalba wind farm. EDP has opted for the sustainability and the circular economy as alternatives to landfill, strengthening its commitment to the environment. EDPR and TRC consolidated their alliance recycling this wind blade that has a length of 44 meters and 6.2 Tonnes weight from Tarragona’s wind farm. This way EDPR marks a turning point in the recovery of wind blades from wind mills, allowing for the very first time in Spain the recycling of a blade to recover the fibers.
