Wind turbine blade recycling has long been a challenge in the industry due to the high costs associated with transporting blades and difficulty extracting blade materials – including glass fiber and epoxy resin – in such a way that they that they can be reused. The donated turbine blades came from Avangrid’s Baffin wind farm in Kenedy County, Texas.
WindLoop’s mission is to build a circular economy for the wind industry by recycling wind turbine components. The startup’s strategy includes two parts. It incorporates an on-site blade shredder which has been shown to significantly reduce transportation costs from wind farm to recycling facility. The company has also developed a process, using green chemistry principles, to effectively separate the fibers and resin in blades. WindLoop’s novel solution can recover over 90% of turbine blade material and 97% of the overall value of the turbine blades.
“Avangrid is one of America’s most innovative leaders in renewable energy, and this is yet another example of our forward-thinking approach to accelerating a clean energy transition across the United States,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra. “We recognize the great challenges in front of us, and we are helping lay the groundwork to find new and efficient methods to recycle blades that will improve the circularity of our industry.”
“For a future powered by solar, wind, and energy storage, we need to minimize waste and ensure that materials are recycled for the next wave of clean energy manufacturing,” said Shubh Jain, CEO and co-founder of WindLoop. “Currently, there is no large-scale industrial process for recycling wind turbine blades, and companies are facing increasing pressure to find recycling facilities that offer circular recycling solutions.”
