House passes bills to boost recycling of retired wind turbines and solar panels

Wind and solar energy are providing enormous benefits to Texas’ environment, but all good things must come to an end. When a wind or solar farm reaches the end of its useful life, what do we do with the blades, panels and other components?

Texas law requires wind and solar companies to fully decommission projects at retirement, removing all the infrastructure and restoring the land. But most retired wind turbines and solar panels are currently sent to landfills. Or, in one notorious case in Sweetwater, General Electric alleges that the company it paid to recycle its turbine blades, took millions of dollars from them and then “shut down its operations without recycling the blades,” leaving behind giant piles of scrap.

Two bills which passed the Texas House in the last week seek to rectify those problems. HB 3228 by Representative Stan Lambert of Abilene requires renewable energy companies to recycle “all components of the wind power facility or solar power facility practicably capable of being reused or recycled, including the wind turbine blades or photovoltaic modules” and dispose of all other nonrecyclable components appropriately (e.g. hazardous substances at facilities under authorized to handle such waste under state or federal law). HB 3229 (also by Rep. Lambert) sets reporting and financial assurance requirements for owners of recycling facilities to prevent another situation like happened in Sweetwater.  

Trash to treasure

Up to 94% of a wind turbine’s mass can currently be recycled. Turbine parts such as the foundation, gear box, tower and the generator are composed of valuable recyclable material like steel, aluminum, and recyclable plastics. These materials can be processed and repurposed for uses beyond the turbine’s lifespan. However, the turbine blades pose a real challenge for recycling services; they are made of very complicated composite materials like fiberglass or carbon fibers encased in durable polymer resin coating. Some companies have found realistic solutions to address the need for processing and reusing blade materials in construction fillers, and other city structures. 

Similarly, around 85% of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules are made of materials we already know how to recycle. According to the EPA, Crystalline-silicon solar technology is the most common technology within the solar panel market. This particular type of panel is made with an aluminum frame, glass, polymer layers, copper wire, and a backsheet, along with silicon solar cells, and a plastic junction box. Many of these materials such as the glass, aluminum and the plastic junction box are easily recovered as we already have strong recycling systems in place. While a little more complicated, other materials like heavy metals are able to be recaptured as well. Texas currently has several facilities which recycle solar panels.