Life Cycle Assessment of Wind Turbine in Turkey

Abstract

This article aims to assess life cycle analysis of a wind turbine in Turkey regarding production, transport, construction, operation, and disposal processes in terms of energy and environment. In this context, a 2-MW three-bladed horizontal axis wind turbine has been selected. Two different scenarios have been studied which comprises wind turbines using Al-Conductor and Cu-Conductor cables. Although the cost of Al-Conductor cables is low, their joule losses are higher. The life cycle assessment of a wind turbine includes production, transportation, construction, operation and disposal, and the energy has been generated in its operation time (selected as 20 years). Iron, cast iron, steel, copper, aluminum, and oil have been sent to a recycling facility and the composite materials has been sent for incineration at the end of its life. The energy payback period has been calculated as 10 months in both scenarios and the embodied energy is 2858.2 MWh and 2830.3 MWh for wind turbine using Al-Conductor and Cu-Conductor cable during its lifetime, respectively. Air emission and wastewater production have been calculated to assess environmental impacts (global warming, acidification, eutrophication, etc.) whose consequence provides an evaluation of the life cycle assessment of a wind turbine. For example, global warming is 14.44 and 15.24 g CO2 eq./kWh for wind turbine using Al-Conductor and Cu-Conductor cable, respectively. As a result, the life cycle analysis of the wind turbines has been evaluated and compared regarding two different scenarios according to the definition of ISO 14040 standard throughout its life from production to disposal.