JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014 - 40

assessment of the Pauillac wind plant in
France. A special focus was placed on
the construction stage since it directly
concerns Valorem's activities. The life
cycle assessment was used to identify the
major impacts of the Pauillac wind plant
throughout its whole life cycle.
As a main result, for each impact category investigated, the production stage
of the wind plant's different components,
more precisely the production of the
moving parts, is the stage that generates
the most impacts. It seems clear that
research in new blade materials made
from natural fibres and other new materials could be an interesting perspective to
develop more sustainable wind turbines.
Secondary impacts come from the
construction stage, with strong impacts
related to the construction of the foundations for 8 of the 9 impact indicators.
This is mainly due to the mass of the
corresponding components.
The sensitivity analysis clearly highlights
that the results are greatly influenced by
the hypothesis of the wind plant lifetime.
For instance, a lifetime increase from
20 to 40 years, taking into account the
required maintenance and part replacements, reduces the impacts by 20% as the
impacts related to the production of the
different components depreciate over a
longer period of time.
Three scenarios were considered for the
end of life of the blades and no significant difference was observed between
the material recovery and the landfill
approaches. In the case of energy recovered from burning, there is an obvious
positive impact on the cumulative energy
demand; however the impact on global
warming is 4 times higher compared
to the reference scenario. In addition,
the impacts linked to the occupation of
agricultural fields, photochemical ozone
layer production, eutrophication, acidification and depletion of abiotic resources
are substantially reduced.

Regarding quantitative indicators, the
hypothesis for the lifetime of the plant
showed a strong influence on the results
since a 21% decrease is observed for the
energy payback time indicator.
In consequence, this study is a valuable
tool for Valorem-Valeol, for both their
environmental impact management
process and their continuous improvement. n
More information:
blanca.palomo@rescoll.fr
claire.michaud@rescoll.fr
Bastien.GAILLARDON@Valeol.fr

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40 jec composites magazine / No90 June - July 2014

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

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