IEA Wind TCP

The recycling of wind turbine blades is intended as a measure to protect the environment, therefore it is crucial to analyze the environmental impacts of recycling on the overall life cycle of wind turbines. It is also important to compare the different end-of-life technologies for dealing with blades using rigorous methods which consider environmental, social, and economic factors. For example, the environmental analysis may be carried out using a life cycle assessment (LCA). Here, the design for recycling strategies identified in WP2 will also be analyzed. The analysis of the social dimension of recycling wind turbine blades is a new area and is understood here as the analysis of social costs and benefits and the acceptance of wind energy in relation to the recycling of wind turbine blades. Several techniques are available in order to integrate economic and/or social considerations with lifecycle assessments, for example, social LCA and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods. The analysis of the social perception and acceptance of the end of life of wind turbine blades may be connected and discussed with the IEA Wind task 28 on social acceptance. Information such as market, community, and government could be discussed and analyzed jointly.