Finding circular solutions for the first wave of onshore wind farm decommissioning

In November 1991 the United Kingdom’s first commercial wind turbines started turning in Cornwall; by January 2025, onshore and offshore wind across the UK combined generated 83.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean energy (the largest of any renewable source), making up 4.4% of total energy production in the country^[i].

There are now more than 12,000 turbines installed across the UK^[ii], all at different stages of their operational life span. With wind turbines typically operating for 20-25 years, many of the earlier wind farms have reached, or are reaching, the end of their operational lives and face being decommissioned and their turbines replaced with newer, more efficient models capable of greater energy production.

With so many turbines now in operation – and more being installed each year – the pressing need for a circular solution to decommissioning and reusing the full range of materials used to construct wind turbines is apparent.

Yet the solution is far from simple. By their nature, most onshore wind farms are in rural and remote areas with low access to the recycling and circular economy services needed to extract the most material value out of the decommissioning process.

Nearly all existing wind turbines are constructed with significant amounts of metal (largely steel, but also other metals such as copper, iron and aluminium). Existing material pathways are either energy-inefficient (i.e. downcycling via scrap metal recycling) or are less than ideal from an economic standpoint (i.e. exporting the value held in these metals to other countries)^[iii].  

New sector initiatives from communities, recyclers, and government bodies are looking at the circular pathways potential for wind turbines once they reach end-of-life.  This is a challenging prospect: wind turbines commissioned 20-25 years ago were not designed with material recovery, remanufacturing or recycling in mind and contain components that are not practical (or suitable) for use in the modern turbines that replace them. Meanwhile, complex ownership arrangements between landowners, operators and other parties can make it more complex to drive forward circular solutions without extensive engagement with all project stakeholders.  

Developing processing and recycling infrastructure

It is expected that onshore wind decommissioning could result in 1.25m to 1.4m tonnes of scrap steel in Scotland by 2050^[iv], and as such there is an urgent need for the required processing and recycling infrastructure to be developed. Our team recently carried out a technical review of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the recycling of scrap steel using electric arc furnaces (EAFs), comparing this with other existing methods, notably blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces (BOF).

Why are electric arc furnaces (EAFs) of interest in wind turbine decommissioning?  
Electric arc furnaces (EAFs) offer a potential route for cleaner, more effective and more flexible processing of scrap metal than conventional routes. As well as being less carbon-intensive (emissions from EAFs are only one-sixth of those from BOF operations), the EAF process can handle smaller volumes and a variety of steel grades, making them suitable for the production of a wider range of products.  

Our technical experts reviewed the LCA (alongside ecoinvent datasets) to assess and validate that it was fit for purpose (both that the methodology was rigorous enough to produce reliable outcomes, and that it had considered full life-cycle impacts). This process included a review of the assessment’s goal and scope, system boundary and impact categories, assessing the data sources used, and providing visualisations of the results.

Our final findings and recommendations have resulted in the LCA being used to support the client’s environmental assessment of sustainability opportunities for scrap steel management in Scotland.

Additionally, our good practice guidance and recommendations will be used for future Life Cycle Assessment development.

The importance of circular practices for wind farms

Ensuring the right reuse and recycling infrastructure is in place provides operators and site managers with the opportunity to make better choices when decommissioning (or repairing) turbines; however, it is up to wind farm operators to embrace circular-first opportunities and ensure they are followed through across their operations.  

Our recent review of sustainable waste management practices for a global renewable energy operator with sites across Europe emphasised the importance of knowledge sharing as a driver of circular progress in this sector.   

Focusing on sites in the UK, we undertook an audit of each site, working closely with the multiple stakeholders involved. This included the site managers who are sub-contracted to manage operations and maintenance on behalf of the operator, to make sure the assessment was thorough and considered the on-the-ground factors affecting recycling, repair and reuse of materials. 

We adopted our proven three-stage process: a pre-audit review of site information was followed by the on-site audit (which included visual inspections and interviews), then a post-audit analysis of the findings and development of key recommendations.

The findings from the audit spanned four key themes: waste stream generation, storage and collection; waste management roles and signage; waste management contractors; and embracing circular initiatives.

The audits revealed the existence of good re-manufacturing and repairing initiatives that would avoid purchasing new components. However, depending on the component, it was not always possible for site managers to repair materials in-house or outsource the repair or refurbishment of a specific component: these were instead sometimes being bulked on-site or disposed of, with brand new components purchased to minimise operational downtime.

Staff interviews revealed that an opportunity existed to use existing channels between site managers to promote the spread of best practices across locations.

These observations were presented – along with other key findings and a list of initial recommendations – at a workshop with the client, the objective being to co-create final recommendations and facilitate buy-in from all stakeholders across the operators’ sites.

The result was 13 co-created (and pre-approved) recommendations across the four identified themes: these identified priority areas for the operator and their service managers to collaborate on and develop to ensure best waste management practice could be taken forwards and foster the sharing of circular initiatives across its operations.

A growing opportunity for circularity

From a growing second-hand market for wind turbines and increased knowledge sharing over repair and remanufacturing practices, to the emergence of better options and infrastructure for the reuse and recycling of key materials, there are several avenues for increasing the adoption of circular practices in the wind energy sector.

As well as focusing on what happens with materials as turbines reach the end of their operational lives, it is key for manufacturers of wind infrastructure to implement circular design principles for the next generation of turbines being designed, fabricated and installed.

With some of these having operational lives that may stretch beyond 30 years, it is hard to anticipate the material needs and technologies that will exist by the time these turbines reach end-of-life; however, by prioritising repairability, durability and reusability in the design process, manufacturers can guarantee increased material recoverability at all stages of the lifecycle of the wind turbine, and hopefully reduced decommissioning costs when they finally need to be replaced.  

Author

Max Goodliffe | Senior Consultant

Max has managed and delivered circularity projects in the low carbon and sustainability sectors across the UK and Europe, with specific interest in energy policy, energy efficiency, circular economy pathways, and sustainable energy transitions for businesses.

[i] UK Energy in Brief, UK Department for Energy and Net Zero: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/688890c3a11f859994409132/UK_Energy_in_Brief_2025.pdf

[ii] UK wind energy database, Renewable UK:
https://www.renewableuk.com/energypulse/ukwed/

[iii] How can we bring innovative recycling solutions into the mainstream, Resource Futures:
https://youtu.be/Hmx6qGYiy04?si=bsKAvoDB5gbi9_Xe

[iv] Zero Waste Scotland
https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/future-onshore-wind-decommissioning-scotland