Blade manufacturing for onshore and offshore wind farms: the energy and environmental performance for a case study in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to analyze the energy and environmental performance of the manufacture of two models of wind turbine blades for a 300 MW wind farm. Material flow analysis (MFA) was used to prepare the mass balance, while life cycle assessment (LCA), based on ISO-14044, was used to evaluate three impact categories, considering sensitivity analysis to evaluate the replacement of wind turbine blade materials. Results showed that the manufacturing of wind turbine blades causes a 10% loss of material impregnated with fiberglass and epoxy resin. Fiberglass was the input with the highest contribution to water consumption, energy consumption, and the carbon footprint. The sensitivity analysis showed that, for the offshore scenario of higher capacity factor and longer lifetime, the carbon footprint contribution per electricity to be produced was 0.214 kg CO2eq/GJ, while for the onshore scenario of lower capacity factor and shorter lifetime, it was 1.37 kg CO2eq/GJ. When using jute fiber grown without irrigation as a substitute input for fiberglass, the reduction was 38% (onshore) and 42% (offshore) in water consumption, 18% (onshore and offshore) in energy consumption, and 24% (onshore) and 25% (offshore) in carbon footprint. The onshore model had a larger impact in all the categories evaluated than the offshore model. Therefore, the use of unirrigated jute fiber allows gains in energy and environmental performance.