EDPR enters wind blade recycling partnership

EDP Renovaveis SA (ELI:EDPR), or EDP Renewables, will cooperate with a spin-off of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) to create a wind turbine blade recycling programme.

The renewables arm of Portuguese utility EDP (ELI:EDP) has entered into an agreement with Thermal Recycling of Composites (TRC) for the implementation of a sustainable system that finds use for faulty, damaged or old wind turbine blades.

EDPR explained in a statement that, while the remaining components of wind turbines are made of recyclable materials, blades are more complex and pose a challenge. The parties will make use of TRC’s R3FIBER technology, which enables the utilisation of materials without leading to waste production. They claim that this is the only technology capable of creating high-quality fibres, without resins, that are suitable for reuse.

At first, the pilot initiative will apply to faulty or damaged wind turbine blades and in the future will start including blades from EDPR wind farms that have reached the end of their life cycle.

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