How long is a wind project’s lifetime?
The typical lifespan of a wind turbine is 20 years. Learn more about how long turbines last here.
What happens to a wind project after its lifetime?
Before construction, Steelhead will create a decommissioning plan to ensure the wind project is decommissioned safely, responsibly, and sustainably without impacting the land. Decommissioning typically begins within 18-24 months prior to the end of operations and is completed within 12-24 months.
The decommissioning plan will describe the removal of the turbines and how the property will be returned to pre-construction condition. The plan may change throughout the life of the project due to new technologies for decommissioning, salvaging, or repowering.
After the project’s lifetime, the land will be completely restored. Learn more about decommissioning here.
What happens to the decommissioning of a project if the company that buys the project goes bankrupt?
Steelhead fully vets the companies interested in purchasing our wind farms to assure they are financially stable and have the best interests of the community at heart.
Leases are legally binding agreements and will include a restoration requirement. Additionally, when a project has been operating for around 15 years, the lease or government agency requires the project owner to provide a bond to fund the decommissioning phase. In the unlikely case of a company going bankrupt, their assets would be liquidated, the project would continue to operate, and the decommissioning plan would hold.
Will our community bear any of the costs of decommissioning?
No, Steelhead will bear all of the costs of decommissioning including land restoration, road restoration, and wind facility part recycling.
Can wind turbine parts be recycled?
Today, Vestas wind turbines are on average 85% recyclable. However, wind turbine blades and hubs consist of a relatively large amount of non-recyclable composite materials. Blades are difficult to recycle because blades must be both light and very durable since they operate under harsh conditions over their lifetime of 20 to 30 years.
As the energy transition accelerates, Vestas is dedicated to making sure the clean energy transition unfolds sustainably. Vestas recently launched a blade circularity initiative and a coalition of industry and academic leaders, led by Vestas, is working to develop a new technology to make blades more recyclable. Last year, Vestas launched a blade recycling partnership solution for several wind farms across the US where local recycling infrastructure is robust.
Vestas is accelerating recycling solutions as part of its service offering and has a goal to produce zero waste turbines by 2040, which includes offering a fully recyclable product.
Learn more about our recycling practices here.
After it’s decommissioned, how can a wind turbine site be reused?
Wind energy is a form of low-impact land use, which allows the land to be restored to its previous state after decommissioning. Usually, hosts of wind farms will return to agricultural farming. Learn more about post-decommissioning land use here.
Can a wind project be repowered?
Yes, there are often opportunities to repower a wind project after is its 25–30-year life span. Repowering means replacing the older turbines with more efficient models that use the latest technology.
This Inflation Reduction Act puts the US on the path to help revive repowering solutions for wind projects across the US in the coming years. A runway of 10+ years for the Production Tax Credit improves the business case for repowers by providing access to a renewed tax credit for annual generation and long-term certainty for investors and regulators.
Repowering offers a fast development timeline, limited exposure to raw material cost increases, reduced permitting complexity, and O&M savings.
- When compared to a new build wind farm, repowering avoids extended time in transmission study queues and potentially high transmission upgrade costs.
- Most repowers maintain the existing tower which is primarily made of steel. Therefore, repowers are less exposed to raw material cost increases and volatility.
- Repowers can utilize existing local and state permits and re-use existing site infrastructure.
- Repowering offers an optimal solution for asset owners of aging fleets faced with higher operation and maintenance costs and increased complexities of sourcing spare parts for obsolete technologies by extending the lifespan of the project and increasing annual energy production.
Vestas partners with a variety of customers to repower all major turbine brands with our world-class technology. In the US, Vestas has repowered more than 1 GW in the 5 years. This includes full and partial repowering as well as component refurbishment.
