Multilayer Material System Analysis of wind turbines: correlation of stocks and flows in the EU of six metals and two drivetrain technologies

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Projections anticipate wind energy as the EU's primary electricity source by 2050. Despite EU leadership in wind power component manufacturing, heavy reliance on imported raw materials, many critical, poses challenges. Understanding wind turbine material cycles' connection to raw materials supply chains is limited, hindering efforts to establish a domestic supply chain. To address this gap, a Multilayer Material System Analysis (MMSA) is employed at the EU level, estimating flows and stocks of six metals (aluminium, copper, iron, manganese, neodymium, and nickel) in wind turbines, differentiated by drivetrain technologies. Five indicators, including self-sufficiency potential (SSP), were calculated for each metal and for wind turbines overall. In 2021, around 4100 kt of material entered the use phase, with 1130 kt leaving at end-of-life; 88 % due to component failures, and 12 % from decommissioning. Recycling processes recovered around 990 kt. Nickel, manganese, aluminium, and neodymium exhibit SSP values below 50 %, with Nd being particularly critical, resulting in a zero SSP and 100 % End-of-Life Downcycling Rate (EoL-DR). A comprehensive understanding of wind turbine value chains enables tailored policy measures to maximize product and component circularity, thereby prolonging material lifecycles. This study serves as a foundation for further analysis exploring the impacts of various circular strategies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number145794
JournalJournal of Cleaner Production
Volume518
Number of pages15
ISSN0959-6526
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.08.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Claas-Philip Zinth

Publications

  1. Perceptual latency priming
  2. Double perspective taking processes of primary children - adoption and application of a psychological instrument
  3. Identifying past social-ecological thresholds to understand long-term temporal dynamics in Spain
  4. Does transition to IFRS substantially affect key financial ratios in shareholder-oriented common law regimes?
  5. Nitrogen uptake by grassland communities
  6. Homogenization approach based on laminates
  7. Motivation and emotion as mediators in multimedia learning
  8. Race and/as Technology; or, How to do Things to Race
  9. Fixed-term contracts and employment adjustment
  10. Appetizers for Business Integration into the heavy Meal of Transdisciplinary Practices
  11. Measuring mathematics competence in international and national large scale assessments
  12. Knowledge and social learning for sustainable development
  13. One step forward, two steps back
  14. Initial hazard screening for genotoxicity of photo-transformation products of ciprofloxacin by applying a combination of experimental and in-silico testing
  15. Consumer Preferences for Local Food: Testing an Extended Norm Taxonomy
  16. Matching between oral inward–outward movements of object names and oral movements associated with denoted objects
  17. For the good of the people: establishing public value creation as an objective for sustainable entrepreneurship policy
  18. Effects of Soil Properties, Temperature and Disturbance on Diversity and Functional Composition of Plant Communities Along a Steep Elevational Gradient on Tenerife
  19. Deformation and Anchoring of AA 2024-T3 rivets within thin printed circuit boards
  20. Exceeding Work
  21. Towards measuring user engagement in internet interventions for common mental disorders
  22. Context in natural-language communication
  23. Mehrsprachigkeit und Interkulturalität in Fremdsprachenportfolios
  24. Comment on “fluorotechnology is critical to modern life
  25. Learning Processes in the Early Development of Sustainable Niches
  26. How to Explain Major Policy Change Towards Sustainability? Bringing Together the Multiple Streams Framework and the Multilevel Perspective on Socio-Technical Transitions to Explore the German “Energiewende”
  27. CSR Communication and the Polarization of Public Discourses
  28. Internet of Things-Specific Challenges for Enterprise Architectures
  29. A Framework for Ecopreneurship
  30. Implementing education for sustainable development in the German school system
  31. Aufgaben 2.0
  32. Pivot to Persevere