Chinese manufacturers speed up wind turbines recycling

Chinese companies have made progress in recycling used wind turbines and turning them into valuable products, as part of the efforts to make the wind power industry more sustainable.

According to reports, steel usually makes up 86 percent of used wind power equipment, with fiberglass making up about 10 percent, copper and aluminum 5.3 percent and rare earth elements 0.5 percent.

The Eling Wind Farm in south China's Guangdong Province has phased out a group of old and inefficient wind turbines, raising its power generation efficiency by more than two times and saving nearly 80 percent of collective land. The person in charge said that key components of the retired generators can be applied to other industries after technical transformation and maintenance, and scrap metals can be recycled into building materials.

Wind turbine blades made from fiberglass have always been difficult to recycle because of their hardness and large size. To solve this problem, a company in east China's Shandong Province has developed a hydraulic cutting robot to cut the blades.

"Through program control and automatic conveying systems, we achieve high levels of mechanized automation to replace the original manual operation, doubling cutting efficiency and addressing the dust problem with hydraulic cutting," said Zhang Min, general manager of wind and solar power production line of Jerry Environmental Protection Technology Company.

Through technological innovation, a company in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has recycled wind turbine blades into composite pallets and building templates. These environmentally friendly products also feature high toughness, excellent waterproof performance and weather resistance.

"We recycled 300,000 kilowatts of wind power systems in the first half of 2024. These recycled wind turbines produced about 70 tons of copper, over 300 tons of aluminum, over 2,000 tons of composite materials, and over 20,000 tons of scrap steel. The effective recycling of these materials has reduced our reliance on foreign raw material suppliers and has reduced carbon emissions in raw materials production," said Cheng Gangqi, director of the Wind and Solar Equipment Recycling Committee of the China National Resources Recycling Association.

Chinese manufacturers speed up wind turbines recycling

The wildfires in the Pantanal wetlands, the world's largest tropical wetland, have raged the region since August, threatening the habitats of local wild lives there.

To fight the flames, a makeshift command post has been set up, bringing together nearly 100 firefighters, environmentalist and staff members from wildlife services.

According to a group of firefighters, they had to take a boat for approximately 40 minutes to reach a site across the river to put out the fire there, which started in early August but has reignited repeatedly afterwards.

Such recurring fire incidents are commonly seen during the dry season in the Pantanal wetlands over the past years.

Water levels decrease during the dry season and rise again in the rainy season in the Pantanal wetlands. Yet, the dry season has lengthened while the rainy season has shortened in recent years, with insufficient rainfall during the latter.

As a result, the upstream areas that are supposed to supply water to the wetlands are unable to provide adequate water now.

"The water supply to the wetlands has decreased, the time of water duration in the region is shorter. As a consequence, the wetlands dry out more quickly as the time they are exposed to the sun get longer, making it easier for these fires to get in," said William Assuncao, an analyst from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, who has been working on forest fire prevention since 2010.

Biologists said the fires in the Pantanal wetlands not only have directly cause the deaths of numerous animals, but also severely damaged their habitats.

"The hyacinth macaw primarily feeds on two types of fruits that come from two specific palm trees in the Pantanal region. Wildfires that destroy these fruits prevent the macaws from feeding. Additionally, the wildfire has also devastated their nests. These birds stay on some large trees, so when the fire passes and the trees fall, these macaws would lose their nests," said biologist Bruno Henrique Grossi Carvalho.

Rampant wildfires threaten eco-system in Brazil's Pantanal Wetlands