Iberdrola has started modernizing its facilities, so many will have to undergo a necessary repowering process. For the recycling of shovels and the collection and treatment of waste generated in the two first wind farms to manage has hired EnergyLoop.
Iberdrola has awarded EnergyLoop shovel recycling and waste management of parts of the Isabela and Molar de Molinar wind farms in Albacete, the first from Iberdrola to be supplied with new energy in Spain. A total of 139 wind turbines will be dismantled, which amounts to 417 blades and more than 800 tons.
Iberdrola contracts the waste management of wind farms
EnergyLoop, a company created in 2022 by FCC Ámbito (a subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente, specialized in comprehensive waste management) and Iberdrola Ventures Perseo, to launch through its Venture Builder program new innovative and sustainable companieswas born with the aim of building a pioneering facility for blade recycling on an industrial scale, and leading the recycling of wind turbine blades in Spain and Portugal.
The EnergyLoop knife recycling plant, located in the municipality of Cortes (Navarra), has recently completed the civil works of its facilities and is expected to be put into operation in early 2025. It now has all the necessary facilities and permits to carry out the work the receipt and storage of shovels.
Iberdrola is strengthening two of its parks, La Isabela and Molar de Molinar (Albacete). The wind turbines will be replaced by more powerful and efficient modelsin a process known as repowering.
The machines used in the repowering will have a unit force that can be up to six times that of the first wind turbines installed in Spain more than twenty years ago, reducing the number of wind turbines installed by 117 units. In addition, the new wind turbines will increase the energy production of the facilities by an average of 30%. Both wind farms received support within the first call for support from the Circular Repowering programme, awarded by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), funded through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
One of the most important factors during the decommissioning process is the management of waste from the replaced wind turbines, especially the blades. The Group Iberdrola has already set a target to recycle 50% of dismantled wind turbine blades and solar panels by 2025 and 100% by 2030, as part of its commitment to efficient use of resources and within the Circular Economy Plan, which represents a cultural change in the way the production and consumption system is understood to address resource shortages, environmental impacts, value creation and employment.
In this sense, Iberdrola has launched a competitive bidding process for the recycling of the blades and the management of the rest of the materials, which has been awarded to EnergyLoop, ensuring the traceability of waste management and obtaining maximum valorization of these materials through its conditioning and use in subsequent industrial processes.
Iberdrola relies on EnergyLoop to have the necessary operational capacity that makes it possible to deliver, within the desired deadlines, the amount of waste that will be produced during the dismantling of the wind turbines of both wind farms.