Page 18 - HUDCO-SHELTER-APR21

THEME PAPER
any generated waste, are steel, waste stream after this time is 12.37 tonnes/MW for 1-1.5 MW;
iron, aluminium, copper, dominated by the end-of-life 13.41 tonnes/MW for 1.5-2 MW;
electronic components and blade blades which will become the 12.58 tonnes/MW for more than
material such as glass or carbon
reinforced plastics and polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) (Andersen et al.,
2016). Generally, blades and
nacelle are likely to be
decommissioned after 20-25
years (Nijssen and Brøndsted,
2013). These reinforced polymers
are inert in nature and provide
the required stability and
strength to the structure, but
since these materials are made
from the crossed linked
thermoset polymers, they cannot
be easily degraded in landfills
(Liu and Barlow, 2017). Even
incinerating these materials may
result in toxic emissions e.g.
dioxins and furans.
Wind energy has evolved as a
clean source of renewable
energy in the last 30 years with
its lesser carbon footprints and
minimal pollution and
contamination. However, in
terms of life cycle assessment of
wind energy, larger amount of
energy is required during
manufacturing of these large
blades. Also, much of the energy
is wasted during the
transportation, operation and
maintenance of different
components of the turbine.
Manufacturing and service
waste are currently the largest
contributors, but end-of-life
waste is increasing rapidly and
is projected to equal
manufacturing and service
waste in coming years. The
16 HUDCO-HSMI Publication
biggest problem. 5 MW (Liu and Barlow, 2017).
The manufacturing waste is
For India, total waste generated
by 2050 may be predicted by assumed to be generated in first
year of installation and taken as
considering all three kinds of
waste i.e. manufacturing, 17.2% of the material installed.
service and end-of-life waste. For service waste, the waste is
While end-of-life waste comes assumed to be generated in 6th
from decommissioned blades, (2.9%) and 16th year (5%) of the
the other wastes originate from installation. (Table 1)
manufacturing and maintenance
stages. The blades waste The waste produced till 2050 has
been estimated for India (Figure
material may be calculated
based on the rated power 3). The blade material usage has
been estimated based on the
installed in a particular year. For
other wastes, estimates may be rated power installed year-wise
in India since 2002 (IWEA, 2019).
made as a fraction of the total
material required for power The power installed in year 2002
has been taken equal to
installed in that year.
cumulative power installed till
For determining the blade that time. For years after 2019
material, the blades are (when the data is yet to be
categorized into four categories: available), the rate of growth for
1 MW, 1–1.5 MW, 1.5–2 MW, cumulative installed capacity
2–5MW and larger than 5 MW. was assumed as 4.9%, average of
the last two years i.e. 2018 and
Based on experiments
2019. This estimation has
performed in other studies, the
limitation in terms of
corresponding material may be
assumptions made for data used
assumed as the following: 8.43
in the calculation.
tonnes/MW for less than 1 MW;
Table 1: Assumptions for waste estimation from wind energy in India
Time period Installed power Installed capacity Waste
for the year generation
2002-2019 From literature difference between in 1st year;
successive years service waste
in 6th and 16th
year; end-of-life
waste in 21st
year
2020-2050 Assuming constant rate of growth