About 200 turbines are generating electricity across Estonia, and the oldest wind farm in Virtsu in Pärnu County has been operating for over 20 years.

In the coming decades, the state and developers will face the question of what to do with wind turbine components that have reached the end of their service life.

Estonian renewable energy producer Enefit Green is already looking into the issue.

"Enefit Green also has turbines that have completed 20 years of service and for which we have received a 10-year life extension, meaning they will run for 30 years. New turbines are already designed to operate for 30 years, according to the standard," said Innar Kaasik, a management board member.

"If we look ahead, then starting around 2030, we may reach the point in Estonia when a larger number of wind turbines will start going into decommissioning and recycling," he said.

Responsibility lies with their owner, which is usually the wind farm developer.

"The turbine manufacturer likely provides a warranty, and it will also be known how the wind farm will be dismantled and what will happen next with its components," said Terje Talv, CEO of the Estonian Wind Power Association.

The manufacturer is responsible for the equipment during the construction phase of a wind farm. In one case, at the Sopi-Tootsi wind farm, the manufacturer cut up a damaged turbine blade and took it to a landfill.

Although the developer, Enefit Green, said the manufacturer had the right to make that decision and the disposal met legal requirements, it would not encourage this.

"We wanted to preserve the blade at the site so that everyone could see it — what it looks like and how big a 79.5-meter blade really is. Another reason was that we have a very good collaboration with the Kuressaare Vocational School, and we wanted to use the blade in the training of wind turbine or blade technology specialists there. The fact that it was cut up on-site and taken to the Paikre landfill was definitely not our preferred choice," stressed Innar Kaasik, member of Enefit Green's management board.

The Ministry of Climate said a wind turbine is categorized as a structure, and its handling must comply with the Waste Act. This means that landfilling should be avoided, and reuse and recycling should be prioritized.

"We are interested in a broad-based approach. We want Estonia's entire waste management system to be as advanced as possible, so that as much material as possible is returned to circulation," said Ivo Jaanisoo, deputy secretary general for living environment and circular economy at the Ministry of Climate.

No additional regulation deemed necessary by market participants

Estonia does not have a national regulation outlining wind turbine recycling or reuse. Both Enefit Green and Danish company Vestas, which has been manufacturing wind turbines for 40 years, say that a large portion of a turbine is already recyclable, and the sector should not be overregulated.

"A wind turbine is made up of various metals: steel, copper, aluminum, and different composite materials. The 90 percent that consists of the tower, nacelle, and various metallic parts, we already know very well today how to recycle those," said Jaana Kurgpõld, sales manager for the Baltics and Scandinavia at Vestas.

The biggest question is how to recycle the blades. Options for processing are being explored.

"These are made of composite materials, and since a turbine is designed to last and withstand very strong forces and various wind conditions, the blades are made of carbon and glass fibers, epoxy resin, paint, and foam. It has been very, very difficult to break them down into separate components and recycle them," Kurgpõld explained.

She said Vestas has been working on a solution to the problem for the past few years.

"The solution is a solvent into which the blade is dipped, and as a result, the wind turbine blade breaks down into its base components," Kurgpõld told this show.

Within five years, it may be possible to recycle turbine blades in larger volumes using this method, she said.

The climate ministry believes the sector is developing rapidly and turbine blades will not make up a significant portion of construction waste.

"Construction and demolition waste in Estonia amounts to about one million tons per year as ordinary waste. If we look only at turbine blades, the turbines to be built in the near future and those already existing contain at most about 20,000 tons of material in their blades. This is a significant difference in scale. Appropriate treatment technologies are developing rapidly. Relevant facilities are being established in Finland, the Netherlands – why not also in Estonia in the future?" said Jaanisoo.

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