JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014 - 35

LCA

First life cycle assessment
of a French wind plant

By

Blanca Palomo, Engineer, Eco-design,
Claire Michaud, Manager, Eco-design,
Rescoll
Bastien Gaillardon, Project manager,
Aerodynamics
Valeol

(...) The life cycle assessment (LCA) was
based on data related to a French test wind
plant. All stages of the life cycle (study, wind
plant parts production, transportation, construction, wind plant operation including
maintenance, disassembly and end-of-life
treatment of the turbines) were analysed and
sensitivity tests were carried out.
The wind plant construction stage was
described in detail. In fact, this life cycle
step is not adequately investigated in already
published LCA studies. The second main
innovation of this study is that the LCA
was performed for a test wind plant using
concrete towers.
The dismantling and end-of life stages are
important for the life cycle analysis. As compared to other energy sources like nuclear
energy, the advantage of wind energy is that
the resulting waste is not toxic. However,
composite wind turbine blades still present a
waste management challenge. To estimate the importance of the end-of-life of
composite blades, three different end-of-life
scenarios were considered.
The influence of the wind plant's lifetime

Wind power is an emerging renewable energy widely developed in many countries. Although several analyses have
been conducted on the environmental impact of renewable
energies, only a few life cycle assessment studies are available for wind plants. Consequently, Valorem developed a life
cycle analysis model to evaluate, from a life cycle perspective, the potential environmental impacts associated with a
French onshore wind plant comprised of five 3.0-MW wind
turbines (...).

was also studied. In addition to the life cycle
assessment, quantitative indicators such as
energy payback time, energy intensity and
CO2 intensity were also calculated.

T

he use of wind energy to generate
electricity is one of the most common
technologies based on renewable
energy sources.

In existing LCA studies related to wind
energy [1-7], not all assessments follow the
ISO standards [8-9], and some are more of
energy and CO2 assessments than full LCAs.
Furthermore, no study has been found for
the LCA of a wind plant using concrete
towers.
Valorem contracted Rescoll to carry out an
LCA for an onshore test wind plant comprised of five 3.0-MW wind turbines.
This study was prepared in accordance with
the methodological requirements of the ISO
14040 and ISO 14044 standards [8-9].
The LCA methodology consists of four

major steps:
1. Goal and scope definition.
2. Inventory analysis: collecting all the
inputs and outputs of the system.
3. Impact assessment: evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with
these inputs and outputs.
4. Interpretation: evaluating the significance
of the system's potential environmental
impact.
The goal and scope stage outlines the rationale of the study, the boundary conditions,
the data requirements and the assumptions
made to analyse the system under consideration, and other similar technical specifications for the study.
This stage also includes the definition of a
reference unit: all the inputs and outputs
are related to this reference. It is called the
functional unit, which provides a clear, full
and definitive description of the product or
service being investigated, enabling subsequent results to be interpreted correctly.
The second step is the inventory analysis, or

No90 June - July 2014 /

jec composites magazine 35
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014

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