🌱 How much waste is generated through decommissioned energy technologies in the EU?
On 10 January 2025, the European Commission (EC) published a report titled "Circular economy strategies for the EU's renewable electricity supply". According to the report, an estimated 6.2 MT of waste aluminum, copper, and steel were made available for recycling from decommissioned photovoltaics (PVs), wind turbines, as well as coal, gas, and oil power plants between 2014 and 2023. This is a considerable amount of waste material. As a comparison, the cumulative collected waste from portable batteries and other accumulators was 0.83 MT between 2012 and 2021, according to a 2021 Eurostat estimate. While many coal and other fossil fuel plants have been decommissioned, “only a small percentage of photovoltaic and wind turbines have retired” to date. Over the next few decades, the amount of waste material originating from PVs and wind turbines will therefore grow significantly.
🌱 What waste is created through wind power?
Wind turbine blades are large-volume waste and are currently challenging components from a circularity perspective. They “have limited commercial-scale recycling and reuse possibilities”. According to the EC report, “[t]he net capacity of wind energy installed in 2050 is predicted to be around 860 GW”. In practice, this means that “[i]f all wind turbines are assumed to be 10 MW machines, there will be 86,000 turbines”. It is also estimated that in 2050, wind power will generate an annual volume of bulk material waste higher than solar power.
🌱 What waste is created through solar photovoltaics?
Currently, “[d]edicated PV recycling processes are capable of recovering valuable materials like silver and silicon”. Yet, according to the EC report, “economic barriers such as the high costs of collection and processing hinder the development of widespread commercial-scale recycling”. It is estimated that “PV waste volumes will rise significantly as the EU [recently] increased its aim for renewable energy deployment to 42.5% from 32.5% by 2030”. By 2020, a total of 135 GW in PV capacity was deployed in the EU. In 2022, the total installed PV capacity in the EU reached 200 GW. This is notably “a rise of 50% in just 2 years”. In line with this, “[t]he EU will amass 6-13 MT of PV waste by 2040 and 21-35 MT of PV waste by 2050”.
🌱 What waste is created through fossil fuel power plants?
There are large-volume waste streams resulting from fossil fuel power plant closures. The EC report estimates that, between 2014 and 2023, 5.6 million tonnes of waste steel, 23.54 million tonnes of concrete, as well as significant amounts of copper and aluminum originated from decommissioned fossil fuel power plants.
Read more about the waste from the EU’s energy technologies here: https://op.europa.eu/s/z1w