Prospective material flow analysis of the end-of-life decommissioning: Case study of a North Sea offshore wind farm
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Authors
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 language | English |
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Article number | 107283 |
Journal | Resources, Conservation and Recycling |
Volume | 200 |
Number of pages | 8 |
ISSN | 0921-3449 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 01.2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the consortium partners of the Flemish CTO ICON project , who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research, contributing both on the specific case as well as internal knowledge. This paper was performed in concordance with the CTO consortium partners, although they may not agree with all of the interpretations/conclusions of this paper. The authors acknowledge the financial support received from the Flemish administration via the CE Center (Policy Research Centre Circular Economy) . This publication contains the opinions of the authors, not that of the Flemish administration. The Flemish administration will not carry any liability with respect to the use that can be made of the produced data or conclusions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
- Circular economy, End-of-life, Material flow analysis, Offshore wind energy, Recycling indicators, Waste management