TY - JOUR

T1 - Prospective material flow analysis of the end-of-life decommissioning

T2 - Case study of a North Sea offshore wind farm

AU - Demuytere, Célestin

AU - Vanderveken, Ines

AU - Thomassen, Gwenny

AU - Godoy León, María Fernanda

AU - De Luca Peña, Laura Vittoria

AU - Blommaert, Chris

AU - Vermeir, Jochem

AU - Dewulf, Jo

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023

PY - 2024/1/1

Y1 - 2024/1/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Circular economy

KW - End-of-life

KW - Material flow analysis

KW - Offshore wind energy

KW - Recycling indicators

KW - Waste management

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85177222043&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107283

DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107283

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85177222043

VL - 200

JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

SN - 0921-3449

M1 - 107283

ER -