RenerCycle has been selected by RWE to carry out the decommissioning of the wind farm and to manage the reuse, refurbishment and recycling of its components. In total, 27 turbines with a combined capacity of 16.2 megawatts (MW) will be dismantled and replaced by three modern turbines of 6.6 MW each, reaching a total capacity of 19.8 MW. The Muel wind farm is located in the province of Zaragoza and has been in operation since 1998.
RenerCycle’s contribution to the project will enable 1,350 components to be refurbished for use in other RWE wind farms, while 1,825 tonnes of ferrous materials will be recovered. Furthermore, 95% of the materials will be recycled, including the 81 blades that will be processed at the Waste2Fiber® plant that ACCIONA and RenerCycle are building in Lumbier, Navarra. This pioneering facility uses thermal technology to recycle composite materials and reintegrate the fibres into new industrial applications.
Javier Villanueva, CEO of RenerCycle, emphasised: ‘We are very pleased that RWE has entrusted RenerCycle with dismantling, recovering and recycling the Muel wind farm. This project is going to be a magnificent example of circularity as it includes the recovery of more than 1,300 components for reuse as well as the recycling of the blades at our Waste2Fiber facilities. ‘
The project will employ 35 people during its different phases and is expected to be completed in 2025.
This is the first major project to be carried out by RenerCycle and represents an important milestone in its goal of ZeroWaste in wind energy.
“The Muel repowering project is financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021, through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan NextGenerationEU financed by the European Union.”“
