Resources: Turbine Lifespan, Decommissioning, Disposal Issues.

Information on lifespan, decommissioning, and the toxic waste and disposal issues.

August 5, 2019, Tiffany Dowell. New Statutory Requirements for Wind Leases in TX Effective September 1. Texas Agriculture Law Blog.
As of September 1, 2019, Texas law will impose requirements for wind lease agreements to contain language whereby the wind farm operator agrees to remove its materials at the end of the lease, and provides a financial assurance to support this obligation. https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/2019/08/05/new-statutory-requirements-for-wind-leases-in-tx-effective-september-1/

“Wind Energy Facilities Model Legislation,” Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions, July 1, 2019: https://www.heartland.org/publications-resources/publications/wind-energy-facilities-model-legislation

Model legislation for New York townships and cities to protect public health and the environment when siting industrial wind facilities.
https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/publications/Wise%20Energy%20NY%20Model%20Wind%20Law.pdf

Discussion Paper on Managing Composite Blade Waste. Wind Europe (windeurope.org). March 2017.

Pu Liu, Claire Y. Barlow, Wind turbine blade waste in 2050,Waste Management,Volume 62,2017, Pages 229-240, ISSN 0956-053X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.02.007.
“With the first wave of early commercial wind turbine installations now approaching their end of life, the problem of blade disposal is just beginning to emerge as a significant factor for the future. ” – “The research indicates that there will be 43 million tonnes of blade waste worldwide by 2050 with China possessing 40% of the waste, Europe 25%, the United States 16% and the rest of the world 19%.”

Ramirez-Tejeda, K., Turcotte, D. A., & Pike, S. (2017). Unsustainable Wind Turbine Blade Disposal Practices in the United States: A Case for Policy Intervention and Technological Innovation. NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, 26(4), 581–598.https://doi.org/10.1177/1048291116676098

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Useful Life: Table gives ranges on useful life of several technologies. https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/tech-footprint.html

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