Managing Supply Chain Complexity: Foresight for Wind Turbine Composite Waste

Sultan, AA, Mativenga, P and Lou, ECW (2018) Managing Supply Chain Complexity: Foresight for Wind Turbine Composite Waste. In: 25th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) Conference, 30 April 2018 - 02 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Abstract

The emergence of wind energy as an integral global player has witnessed a rapid growth of wind farms. While wind energy in itself is a clean energy resource, the disposal of the projected wind turbine end-of-life composite waste is likely to present a monumental management challenge that requires foresight and planning. The aim of this research was to determine the overall volume and distribution of end-of-life wind turbine composite waste and develop new metrics and mathematical tools to identify possible recycling or remanufacturing centres. Geographically distributed waste data was modelled using the centre-of-gravity method with supply chain complexity analysis utilised to develop logic for the location of recycling centres. The research predicted a total volume of over 500,000 tons of wind turbine composite waste in the UK by 2048. This paper proposes the use of new metrics to measure the complexity of waste supply chain as an evidence-based rationale for identifying appropriate sites for recycling centres. The research presents possible new approaches in waste complexity within a supply chain network to enable the development of sustainable third-party processing centres.