The potential of secondary resources from wind power and photovoltaic plants

According to the current government program, the electricity supply in Austria is to be climate-neutral by 2040 and thus be 100% renewable energy. This goal is connected with great ambitions in the expansion of renewable energy production facilities, especially in the area of photovoltaics and wind power. The aim of this paper is to present the expected sharp increase in the use of materials for new and existing wind power plants (WPP) and photovoltaic plants (PVP) by 2050, to estimate the potential of secondary resources and to show ways for reuse and the highest possible level of recycling. The plant stock and the usable secondary resources were balanced on the basis of macroeconomic modelling of the Austrian energy system and market mix based material flow analyses of WPP and PVP on component level. The construction of the plants shows the mass relevance of silicon and glass for PVP and concrete and steel for foundations of WPP, whereby an increase in the use of raw materials by a factor of 5 can be expected in the period from 2020 to 2030. Furthermore, electrical and electronic components contain significant amounts of metals (Fe, Cu, Al), precious metals (Au, Ag) and special metals such as tantalum and neodymium in capacitors and magnets. A comparison after two recycling scenarios with current state-of-the-art and high quality recycling shows that recovery rates can be significantly increased for PVP concerning glass, silicon and silver and for WPP concerning copper, precious metals and glass and carbon fibre reinforced plastics. Due to the quantities and qualities of potential secondary resources from dismantled plants in the coming decades, optimized recycling paths must be created so that the resources can be managed in a circular economy.