- Innovation believed to be world-first
- Process cuts carbon production by up to 90%
Worn-out wind turbine blades destined for the incinerator will instead be used to create carbon-friendly reinforced concrete on Britain’s new high speed rail network, HS2 Ltd has said today (3 March 2021).
Retired wind turbine blades reinforce concrete
The innovative project will swap steel rebar, traditionally used to reinforce concrete, with sections of glass fibre reinforced polymer turbine blades that have reached the end of their operational lives generating low carbon electricity.
By 2023, around 15,000 turbine blades will have been decommissioned across the UK and EU. Until now, expired blades have either been ground down to be used as building materials or sent to energy-from-waste incinerators. The innovation, believed to be a world first, will use suitable sections cut from decommissioned wind turbine blades in reinforced concrete instead of steel rebar. Substituting steel for sections of retired wind turbine blades cuts by up to 90% the carbon generated by concrete reinforcement.
The initiative project is being taken forward under HS2 Ltd’s innovation programme by Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture, and the UK’s world-leading National Composites Centre, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.