Germany is faced with the problem of disposal of obsolete wind turbines

The development of energy production from renewable sources in Germany. Yellow — solar panels, green = biomass, blue — wind blue — HPP.

 

Germany, the European pioneer in the use of renewable energy, is very close to an unusual problem associated with ageing wind turbines. Old windmills becomes unprofitable to maintain and expensive to dismantle with the aim of recycling – and the possibility of their utilization is questionable.

Germany started to install wind turbines in the mid 90-ies. After the events at NPP Fukushima-1 in 2011, and the related emergence of the next wave of panic before atomic energy, the transition to "clean" the energy is moving at a heightened pace.

Currently, there are more than 25,000 wind turbines. 2011 closed for nine nuclear power plants, and currently in Germany only 16% of all energy consumed is produced by nuclear power plants. But "environmental" energy is not without challenges.

First, the transition to wind energy are even too fast – so much so that Germany has to export excess energy to neighboring countries. This increases the risk of blackouts in the event of sudden disruptions in the power grid.

Second, the oldest windmills in Germany are already beginning to be fulfilled in 20 years. And local laws, 20-year-old turbine is disassembled and recyclable – if only the owner won't spend money on its repair and modernization, and prove to the special Commission the performance of the device. And next year, about 7 thousand of the 25 thousand working windmills will be for 15 years.

Plays a role and the fact that over the past 10 years, technologies for extracting energy from wind has taken a big step forward, and modern wind turbines are able to produce several times more energy than their predecessors. Now replace the turbine in a new instead of repair old one looks more profitable venture. However, the repair of old wind turbines becoming disadvantageous for another reason.

Production of renewable energy in Germany is subsidized by the state. Generated by wind turbines for energy are fixed rates on its buy – high enough to ensure that the wind turbine was off. But the subsidies are terminated after 20 years of use the windmill, then its maintenance becomes uneconomic.

Thus the output of the wind turbine down - dismantling and disposal - cost € 30,000 in a single windmill. Because the wind turbines for the production of sufficient energy is necessary to do a giant size, for disassembly of the wind turbine it is necessary to use two 150-ton crane. If, as some owners do, thoughtlessly bring down a huge windmill on the ground, it then becomes much more difficult to dispose of or sell on the secondary market.

A number of wind turbines (a structure is 160 meters tall and weighing over a hundred tons) able to put in the Metalworking. Also on German wind turbines, according to the experts, there is a demand in the secondary markets in Poland, Italy and Russia. But still the challenge of recycling old giant structures with increasing their number increases.

And a few years will start to become obsolete coastal wind turbines standing in the sea – they began installing in 2010, and yet no one tried to dismantle. published

 

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

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Source: geektimes.ru/post/263404/