Anticipating in-use stocks of carbon fibre reinforced polymers and related waste generated by the wind power sector until 2050

The rapid development of the wind power sector with a steady increase in wind turbine size has led to a rising utilization of the carbon fibres used in their blades. This trend is expected to continue and as a result, the amount of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) waste generated by the wind power sector will grow quickly in the future due to production waste and wind turbines reaching the end of their product life cycle. This prospective study quantifies and localizes the evolution of the worldwide in-use stocks of CFRP and related waste and until 2050. A bottom-up approach has been used enabling the assessment of CFRP in-use stocks, by country and globally. By then, most of the cumulative amount of waste will be located in Europe and Asia with approximately 190,000 and 149,000 tons, respectively, if not recycled beforehand. To illustrate, it would represent 34,821 and 27,307 wind turbines of 5 MW to recycle in Europe and Asia. Thus, this study estimates the in-use stocks of CFRP and the related waste generation by geographical area including time references. Also, results could serve as a useful guide for the establishment of a waste management programme for the upcoming CFRP waste generated by the wind power sector until 2050.