End-of-Life Issues for Onshore Wind Farms,
The Second Wind Value Conference on End-of-Life Issues for Wind Farms took place on 29th May 2024 in the Ellen Hutchins Building, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Ireland. This conference linked to the first conference by looking at the progress of blade repurposing and then looked at the financial and planning issues round the decommissioning, repowering or life extension decision. Report available here.
Wind Value would like to thank all the speakers and the staff in the Ellen Hutchins Building.
Time Table with links to speakers, slides and videos.
| 1 pm | Networking over a light lunch | |
| 1:20 | Paul Leahy, Lecturer in Wind Energy, ERI, UCC | Welcome and Introduction, Slides, Video |
| 1:30 | Angie Nagle, CEO Blade Bridge | “BladeBridge Turbine Repurposing“, Slides |
| 1:55 | Dorcas Mikindani, PhD student in CUBS, ERI, UCC presented today by Peter Deeney | “Wind Value: End of life Choices for Wind Farms”, Slides, Video |
| 2:15 | Peter Deeney, PI of Wind Value, ERI, UCC | “Planning is Optional”, Slides, Video |
| 2:45 | Coffee Break | |
| 3:10 | Carla De Laurentis, Lecturer in Environmental Management UWE | “Factors Shaping End-of-Life Decisions of Ageing Wind Infrastructure in Italy”, Slides, Video. See also a recent paper, De Laurentis and Windemer (2024) at this link or download it here. |
| 3.35 | Jim Hughes, Director of Energy and Planning, at Fehily Timoney | “The Ageing Portfolio of Wind Farms in Ireland – Key Issues”, Slides, Video |
| 4:00 | Rebecca Windemer, Planning and Communities Lead Regen | “UK Experiences of Repowering, Life-Extension and Decommissioning” Slides |
| 4:25 | Panel | Questions and Discussions |
| 4:50 | Peter Deeney, PI of Wind Value, UCC | Conclusions and Thanks |
Speakers
In order of appearance at the Conference.
Paul Leahy is a senior lecturer in Wind Energy in UCC, a principal investigator in ERI and is in the Wind Value team. He is a member of IEA Wind Task 45 and conducts research into wind energy, hydrogen and energy storage. Slides, Video
Angie Nagle is CEO of Blade Bridge a company which develops repurposing solutions for decommissioned wind turbine blades. Slides
Peter Deeney is the principal investigator of the Wind Value project which is based in the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) of UCC. He is a member of IEA Wind Task 45 and conducts research in Energy Finance. Slides, Video
Carla De Laurentis, is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management in the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. Dr De Laurentis is also a member of IEA Wind Task 45, researching into wind blade recycling. Slides, Video.
Rebecca Windemer is the planning and communities lead at Regen, a centre of energy expertise and market insight based in the UK. She is also a collaborator in the Wind Value project. Slides
The conference was funded by the Irish Research Council through the Pathway Programme IRC*21/PATH-A/9348 which funded the Wind Value project.
