Wind Farms Waste: Non-Calculated Environmental Impact?

Abstract

Deterioration of the installed wind farms at the end of the last century and beginning of XXI, has been accompanied by the lack of planning for the final disposal of the composite materials waste employed in this industry. Nowadays, countries in Europe and America face a serious problem for this waste management due to the technological absence for its final disposal. This article summarizes the alternatives reported in literature in the last 10 years to diminish the negative externalities caused by this waste; however, we found that, the technological and economical unfeasibility for the industrial escalation of such alternatives could hardly deal with the large volumes of waste that will be generated by this industry in the following decades. In any case, emphasis should be made in the waste disposal of the wind industry starting from the wind farm project planning. An inappropriate management of this waste could accentuate the wind industry with another social claim issue.

Keywords: Energy planning, sustainable development, Wind turbine blades, wind energy, Renewable energy source.