ASSESSMENT OF WIND ENERGY IN INDIA AT THE NATIONAL AND SUB- NATIONAL LEVEL: ATTRIBUTIONAL LCA EXERCISE

ABSTRACT

The Government of India has set the target of 60 GW wind energy capacity to be achieved by 2022. The Attributional Life Cycle Assessment methodology and E3-India model are used to study the total economic, energy, and environmental impact of the operational phase of wind turbines across the country. It is expected to generate waste from 2021 until 2051 at the rate of 217.89 tonnes/wind turbine, cumulatively amounting to 7.9 million tonnes. This generates an opportunity for recycling and resale of the metal materials worth USD 4.5 billion, which can be utilized in manufacturing 3.3 GW of wind turbines, thus emphasizing its high circular economy potential. The embodied energy and CO₂ emission savings by substituting virgin material are estimated to be 17,215 GWh and 6,626 million tonnes, respectively. Thus, measures like Extended Producer Responsibility could help create a viable circular economy through the partially closed-loop recycling of wind turbines.

KEYWORDS:

• Life cycle assessment
• circular economy
• wind energy

JEL Code:

• Q42
• Q47
• Q53

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ SDG Goal 7 – Providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all.

² SDG Goal 13 – Taking necessary action against climate change.

³ Further discussion can be seen in Materials and Methods section.

⁴ The detailed literature review table on Wind LCA has been provided in Table A1 in the Appendix.

⁵ The Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) is the ratio of actual electricity generated by the total plant capacity operational for the maximum no. of hours (24) throughout the year (365 days).

⁶ The cost of installation of 1 MW of wind turbine in India is approximately USD 1,350/KW (Milborrow 2020).

⁷ The initial mandate was 2022.

⁸ The wind turbine manufacturer will be obligated to undertake the decommissioning and recycling of wind turbines at the end-of-life stage.