Wind Energy – Recycling
Endesa, PreZero España and Reciclalia Composite have reached an agreement to start up the first wind blade recycling plant on the Iberian Peninsula.
With the support of GE Renewable Energy and its subsidiary LM Wind Power, this is an important step towards a model circular economy in the wind energy sector.
This project, which will be located in Cubillos del Sil (León), is part of Endesa’s Futur-e Plan for the Compostilla industrial complex, in which the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Junta de Castilla y León recently approved 7 projects to create value in the communities in which the decarbonization process is taking place.
The new infrastructure in which the consortium created will invest 8.5 million euros and which will start to be built next year, responds to the challenge of recycling more than 6,000 tons of fiberglass and carbon fiber from wind turbines per year, giving a second life to blade materials applying circular economy criteria.
In addition, the project contemplates the reuse and incorporation of recycled fiberglass, carbon fiber and other by-products of the process back into the industry, both wind power and other sectors that may require these compounds.
The new plant, which will be operational at the beginning of 2024, will have around 30 direct jobs, and will additionally generate indirect employment associated with logistics tasks.
In addition, the agreement provides for GE Renewable Energy to offer its customers based in Spain the option of recycling disused blades using the new plant. For its part, LM Wind Power will supply around 50% of the excess fiberglass generated during the manufacture of blades at its plants in Ponferrada (León) and Castellón.
