When the turbines stop
Unveiling the factors shaping end-of-life decisions of ageing wind infrastructure in Italy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13065248 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carla De Laurentis (0000-0002-6510-9926, University of the West of England, corresponding author), Rebecca Windemer (0000-0002-0882-6152, Regen) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 113 |
| Pages | 103536-103536 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Energy Research & Social Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2214-6296 • E-ISSN: 2214-6326 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103536 |
| OpenAlex | W4395117806 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
Wind farms reaching their end of technical, or consent life, are increasing. One of the biggest emerging environmental sustainability issues faced by countries globally is what to do with this ageing infrastructure. This is an urgent issue across Europe and a challenge for countries such as Italy, where about 50 % of the country wind capacity is expected to reach end-of-life by 2030. As wind industry actors, governments and academics seek to identify the scale of this problem, this paper investigates the technical, legal, economic, financial, social and environmental challenges that are coalescing in determining when a turbine has reached the end of its productive lifetime. While the standard design lifetime of a turbine is 20–25 years, the timescale under which wind turbines approach the end of their operational lifetime is not uniform. Through an in-depth analysis of secondary documents and expert interviews, we investigate when end-of-life decisions are being undertaken and how these can influence the different options of waste management alternatives to landfill. The ‘age’ of the wind farm- and its degrading performance- is determined by a number of factors, with end-of-life decision becoming increasingly an ad-hoc strategy for wind assets, ultimately influencing the environmental impact of wind infrastructure. Key contribution = the range of factors influencing end-of-life decisions of wind infrastructure
Ageing · Business · Economics · Electrical engineering · Natural resource economics · Wind power · Advanced battery technologies research · Engineering · Medicine · Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability · Wind Energy Research and Development
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |