Abstract
Wind capture is one of the best forms of renewable energy generation and is growing both on and offshore at a staggering pace world-wide. One of the major challenges however is what to do with the Fiber Reinforced Composite blades that drive the turbines at the end of service life which is typically only 20 years. Working with colleagues at Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland) and University College Cork (Republic of Ireland), The ReWind Team at Georgia Tech has developed a patented re-use application for deploying the end-of-life blades as the vertical tower structures in future high voltage electrical transmission lines thus contributing to the circular economy. The US electrical grid will undergo trillions of dollars’ worth of expansion and improvements over the next two decades. By reusing the blades to replace virgin materials such as steel and concrete within the electrical grid, this design will not only avoid landfilling millions of tons of composite material it will also reduce the overall carbon footprint of future grid construction.