But what happens to the obsolete equipment? Especially the wind industry should have an interest in reducing its “green” production facilities as material-efficiently as possible and recycling them to a high quality in the context of the closed-loop economy.

At present, this is not the case, and it cannot be assumed in future either that the recycling market alone could achieve a resource-saving disposal of old plants. The reasons for this are, for example, the lack of transparency regarding material flows and the problematic material components involved such as carbon fibers. This is where the research project “Recycling Network RecycleWind – resilient and self-learning” comes in, a joint project of the City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, the University of Bremen and the consulting firm “brands & values”, a Bremen firm of sustainability consultants.

Project developes self-learning recycling network

The project intends to develop a self-learning recycling network with key players at all stages of the life cycle of wind turbines. The aim is that the stakeholders (participating companies or public authorities) jointly define specific but adaptable recycling agreements for the resource-efficient management of material flows.
As prerequisites for the agreements, RecycleWind has developed three methodological elements: the material flow model, the stakeholder network and agent-based modeling. Agent-based modeling researches scientifically proven methods of self-control in the material flow system and simulates the effects of possible actions on the part of the stakeholders.

The concept must be self-learning and resilient

Since important framework conditions change during the 20-year runtime of wind turbines, the recycling network cannot work with a rigid lead frame. In contrast to existing control elements in other industries with fixed recovery rates, an adaptive concept of self-management is used. The concept must be able to respond to changes of requirements in a robust, adaptable, innovative and improvisational way, i.e. it must be self-learning and resilient. At the same time, the specifications regarding efficiency parameters (material, energy, climate protection, costs etc.) must be met.

Depending on the market and stakeholder constellation, the recycling strategies and the actual recycling routes are adapted fluently by the actors, without failing to meet the set efficiency targets. The project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

If you would like to know more about this topic, feel free to contact:

Project leader Prof. Dr. Henning Albers
Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Environment
City University of Applied Sciences Bremen
Tel.: + 49 421-5905 2314
E-Mail: henning.albersprotect me ?!hs-bremenprotect me ?!.de

Prof.Dr. Stefan Gößling-Reisemann
Resilient Energy Systems
Faculty of Production Engineering
University of Bremen
Tel.: +49 421-218-61803
E-Mail: sgrprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de