Prospective material flow analysis of the end-of-life decommissioning: Case study of a North Sea offshore wind farm

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Célestin Demuytere
  • Ines Vanderveken
  • Gwenny Thomassen
  • María Fernanda Godoy León
  • Laura Vittoria De Luca Peña
  • Chris Blommaert
  • Jochem Vermeir
  • Jo Dewulf

Early offshore wind farms approach their decommissioning phase, yet a lack of precedents, potential legal bottlenecks, inadequate treatments and a lack of applicable circularity indicators, leave the sector unprepared, encompassing a risk of valuable materials loss. This paper presents a first-of-its-kind circularity analysis of the prospective decommissioning scenario of a North Sea wind farm, introducing and applying new circularity indicators. From the site-specific primary data, a bill of materials and material flow analysis was established, differentiating between secondary applications and end-of-life destinations. The main share (80 %) of the installed mass originated from scour protection, acting as hotspot to the 84 % of materials remaining in situ. The collected fraction recycling rate approaches 90 %. However, the substantial discrepancies between components and materials implicate a need for component or material-specific targets to avoid valuable material loss. Introducing such collection or recycling targets could encourage more circular decommissioning practices along the value chain.

Original languageEnglish
Article number107283
JournalResources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume200
Number of pages8
ISSN0921-3449
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

    Research areas

  • Circular economy, End-of-life, Material flow analysis, Offshore wind energy, Recycling indicators, Waste management

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