earticle

영어

As environmental concerns about the piling up of onshore wind turbine blades in landfills are on the rise, questions also arise regarding the disposal of decommissioned offshore wind turbine blades in the near future. Through a data mining process conducted on online databases of offshore wind farms, this study analyzed the growing pattern of offshore wind farms across countries and the scope of diversity in the type of wind turbine blades to decommission in the coming decades. The total capacity of offshore wind farms worldwide was found to increase rapidly, especially in the past few years. Besides the 17 countries with offshore wind farms currently in operation, 36 additional countries were found to have plans for building offshore wind farms. The first stream of rotor blades to decommission from offshore wind farms with a capacity above 400 MW is expected to be as early as year 2032. Common materials used for these rotor blades are composite materials, most of which can reportedly release hazardous gases during certain disposal processes. More research is needed to identify regulatory or technological strategies useful for the safe handling of these wastes.