Comparative LCA of technology improvement opportunities for a 1.5-MW wind turbine in the context of an onshore wind farm

Matthew Ozoemena,Reaz Hasan,Wai M Cheung

doi:10.1007/s10098-017-1466-2

Abstract

This paper presents life cycle assessment (LCA) results of design variations for a 1.5-MW wind turbine due to the potential for advances in technology to improve their performance. Five LCAs have been conducted for design variants of a 1.5-MW wind turbine. The objective is to evaluate potential environmental impacts per kilowatt hour of electricity generated for a 114-MW onshore wind farm. Results for the baseline turbine show that higher contributions to impacts were obtained in the categories of ozone depletion potential, marine aquatic eco-toxicity potential, human toxicity potential and terrestrial eco-toxicity potential compared to technology improvement opportunities (TIOs) 1–4. Compared to the baseline turbine, TIO 1 with advanced rotors and reduced tower mass showed increased impact contributions to abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential and photochemical ozone creation potential, and TIO 2 with a new tower concept involving improved tower height showed an increase in contributions to abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential and global warming potential. Additionally, lower contributions to all the environmental categories were observed for TIO 3 with drivetrain improvements using permanent magnet generators while increased contributions towards abiotic depletion potential and global warming potential were noted for TIO 4 which combines TIO 1, TIO 2 and TIO 3. A comparative LCA study of wind turbine design variations for a particular power rating has not been explored in the literature. This study presents new insight into the environmental implications related with projected wind turbine design advancements.

Highlights

Concern about the effects of climate change and public awareness with regard to environmental impacts has increased considerably in recent years
The main differentiating component is the presentation of an life cycle assessment (LCA) study to evaluate the environmental impacts for a wind farm using an existing turbine and four different potential design variants for a 1.5-MW wind turbine while considering most of the life cycle stages
The goal of the LCAs is an evaluation of the potential environmental impacts associated with electricity production from a 114-MW onshore wind farm comprised of design variants for a 1.5-MW wind turbine

Summary

Introduction

Concern about the effects of climate change and public awareness with regard to environmental impacts has increased considerably in recent years. Wind power uses the kinetic energy of the wind to produce electricity without directly producing any emissions or pollutants during the conversion process (Martínez et al 2009; Shafiee et al 2016) This does not, mean it is free of environmental impacts. There are environmental implications as a result of the manufacturing, operation and disposal processes during the life cycle of the wind turbine (Ozoemena et al 2016; Simons and Cheung 2016) These environmental impacts have to be quantified in order to examine the potential for improvement to the processes and to compare the effects of energy production (Fokaides et al 2014; Igliński et al 2016; Lieberei and Gheewala 2017). The main aim was to show differences between temperaturebased indicators for climate change mitigation potential and emissions

Literature summary and the proposed approach

Methods

Results