President Joe Biden has wasted no time in declaring war on fossil fuels and pushing the expansion of renewable energy, including a massive wind power project on the Massachusetts coast. The move comes as reports surfaced of how used turbine blades are dumped at landfills.
Biden signed an executive order on January 27, urging the Department of the Interior to “identify steps to accelerate responsible development of renewable energy on public lands and waters.”
News Day reports on Biden’s agenda for green energy:
Biden on January 27 signed an executive order asking the Department of the Interior to “identify steps to accelerate responsible development of renewable energy on public lands and waters,” a clear change by the Trump administration, which has delayed federal approval.
The Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a statement on Wednesday saying it would resume the environmental review and work to develop a final environmental impact statement needed to approve the project’s construction and operational plan. The project, called Vineyard Wind, a company in New Bedford, Massachusetts, withdrew the application for the construction plan for the 800-megawatt project, one of the first expected to come online, to reduce the prospect of using larger turbines to investigate.
For the developers of the South Fork Wind Farm, a project contracted by LIPA that is scheduled to deliver power to the South Fork by 2023 was news of the Vineyard Wind progress and the Biden Government’s commitment to wind, welcome news.
“I think this is a strong signal right outside the gate of the Biden government,” said Fred Zalcman, head of government affairs at Danish energy giant Orsted, which is developing the South Fork 130-megawatt project with Eversource. “We all had a better pattern of a year.”
But as the Biden administration, the alternative energy the industry and environmentalists are feeding the new pressure for “clean energy”, there are reports that the massive blades used on the wind turbines cannot be easily recycled and buried in landfills.
The Texas Standard set out the scenarios for used blades, including an interview with a reporter who investigated wind power pollution:
Texas is a leader in wind-generated energy, with wind turbines and their massive blades spreading across the western half of the state. But the equipment has a lifespan. Turbines last about 25-30 years, and their blades are usually replaced at least once during that time.
Freelance journalist Kate Hill recently reported to the Texas Observer that discarded blades often end up in landfills. But there are new options that can give them a second life.
“What is currently being done with most of the blades that have been taken out of service?” asks the newspaper Hill.
“They are laid in the field next to the turbine or sent to a landfill,” Hill said. ‘It’s really scary to see the massive fiberglass end up in landfills. These blades are hundreds of feet long, and they are usually cut into two, three or four pieces and laid down. And just to process it and just get to the point of getting into the waste stream, the processing takes … a big toll. ‘
The suburbs, Hill said, are that some have been used in cement production, and in Europe the blades have again been used for infrastructure projects.
But these facts should not be used to criticize wind power, Hill said.
“I don’t think the neatness of wind energy should question anything because of this problem,” Hill said. ‘At the end of the day, the blades do not leach any toxic chemicals into the soil when they land on landfills. But the problem here is actually just how much space is going to be taken up if they do not use some or find another home once they are at the end of their lives. ‘
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