#Research & Development

2024-05-30

Recycling end-of-life wind turbine blades: DITF are partner in the Rewind project

On May 15 and 16, the kick-off meeting of the REWIND project took place in Valencia. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) are one of 14 partners from seven countries. REWIND deals with composite waste in the wind energy sector. It is funded by Horizon Europe and CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency).

The project partners in Valencia. Photo: © 2024 REWIND / DITF

REWIND stands for Efficient Decommissioning, Repurposing and Recycling to increase the Circularity of end-of-life Wind Energy Systems. The project deals with the recycling of wind turbine blades when they have reached the end of their service life. The project partners are developing basic technologies for dismantling the composite material and methods for disassembling and evaluating the material. In the next step, recycling processes and options for reusing the composite materials will be developed. The aim is to make the wind turbine blades recyclable instead of landfilling or incinerating them.

At this first meeting, the research consortium discussed the objectives of the research project and the planning. The task of the DITF is to develop a yarn and a fabric for new components or for repair kits for wind turbines from the glass and carbon fibers recycled by the project partners.

The project is funded by the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON) of the European Union under grant agreement no. 101147226.

Partners:

AIMPLAS

TECKNIKER

IPC – Centre Technique Industriel de la Plasturgie et des Composites

Miljøskærm

Hochschule Pforzheim – Gestaltung, Technik, Wirtschaft und Recht

Deutsche Institute für Textil – und Faserforschung Denkendorf (DITF)

Alke Electric Vehicles

Suez Group

Bcircular

Composite Patch

TPI Composites Inc

R-Nanolab

CiaoTech-Gruppo PNO

AEMAC

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Starting in 2026, Europe’s wind energy industry has committed itself to ensuring that wind turbine blades do not end up in landfills once they reach the end of their service life. The EU-funded research project REWIND is exploring ways to reuse this composite waste. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) are one of 13 project partners from seven countries.

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