Closing the Loop: A Real-Life Case of Wind Turbine Decommissioning

The clean energy transition is about more than building new renewable capacity - it is also about taking responsibility for what happens at the end of an asset’s life. As the global wind fleet grows and matures, responsible decommissioning, material recovery and land restoration are becoming an increasingly important part of the sustainability conversation. Using the decommissioning of a turbine at Latvia’s Grobiņa Wind Park as a real-life case, this session will follow what happens to a wind turbine after its operational life ends - from dismantling and recycling to finding new uses for blade materials and restoring the land. The case demonstrates how circularity can be built into the full lifecycle of renewable energy infrastructure and, just as importantly, how making this process visible can strengthen public confidence in the energy transition.