A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Anne P M Velenturf

doi:10.3390/en14175540

Abstract

Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

Highlights

Low-carbon infrastructure and technologies such as wind, solar and electric vehicles are important in the mitigation of climate change and to keep global temperature rises below two degrees Celsius [1]
The purpose of this article is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure
Circular economy has been defined in hundreds of different ways [50], the only common denominator being the aspiration to make better use of materials, components and products when compared to a linear economy

Summary

Introduction

Low-carbon infrastructure and technologies such as wind, solar and electric vehicles are important in the mitigation of climate change and to keep global temperature rises below two degrees Celsius [1]. The recycling of offshore wind turbine materials is often depicted as the main strategy to limit future impacts, but research suggests that there is a far greater potential to reduce environmental impacts through improved component durability [7]. It has been argued that the purpose of a circular economy is to organise resources to maintain or enhance social well-being and environmental quality for current and future generations, recognising economic prosperity as a boundary condition for sustainable development [10]. Environmental benefits stretch further than carbon emission reductions alone, given that a broad spectrum of absolute environmental improvements are increasingly targeted (e.g., [45,53]) Arguably, it has been the envisaged economic benefits that have made circular economy attractive for governments and businesses [54], with forecasts of

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