The world’s biggest cement manufacturer LafargeHolcim and General Electric’s renewables unit have announced an MOU to explore circular economy solutions to utilize materials from decommissioned wind turbines. With 10+ years of experience in recovering energy from wind turbine blades, both companies are exploring ways of recycling wind blades, to build new wind farms.
This is a truly exciting next step in our journey to introduce new circular lifecycle improvements for the wind industry. We are delighted to work with LafargeHolcim on these critical projects, which will help to improve the sustainability of wind power now and well into the future,” - Jérôme Pécresse, CEO of GE Renewable Energy said.
“With sustainability at the core of our strategy, accelerating renewable energy and the circular economy are top priorities for our business. I’m very excited about this collaboration with GE Renewable Energy because it meets both goals at once,” said Head of LafargeHolcim’s Global Innovation Centre - Edelio Bermejo.
The next phase continues building existing relationships between the two companies following the announcement to co-develop wind turbine towers at record heights using 3-D printed concrete bases, which are stronger, more efficient, and is capable to build 10 times faster than before.
This announcement is a key next step – especially for the European market, when the European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan, as one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal.
As governments globally seek to ramp up their renewable energy capacity, the number of wind turbines on the planet only looks to grow. This will increase pressure on the industry to find sustainable solutions to the disposal of blades. Over the past few years, major companies in wind energy have announced plans to tackle the problem.
