The offshore wind sector is fast approaching the point where the earliest wind farms in the UK and across Europe will be decommissioned. With this major milestone, there are several key considerations around the supply chain readiness to handle the materials arising in the most environmentally sustainable manner.
To address this industry challenge, ORE Catapult has established the Circular Economy for the Wind Sector (CEWS) to reduce waste from wind farms; ensure UK/European capacity for recovering materials from decommissioned turbines; identify strategic weaknesses in port and vessel capacity at critical locations and get ahead of the curve for the environmental permitting of subsea component removal.
As part of this project, ORE Catapult aims to lead and facilitate the development of industry best practice and the supporting tools for the detailed understanding of “true” end-of-life potential for pilings, to reduce the environmental and ecological impacts. In addition to the reuse, recycling, or sustainable disposal of decommissioned offshore wind turbines, CEWS aims to lay the foundations of a new circular economy supply chain for the sector, allowing wind turbine components to be disposed of in the best possible way.
The project will focus on four key areas:
- Logistics: Reduce waste from wind farms
- Traceability: Ensure UK/European capacity for recovering materials from decommissioned turbines
- Supply Chain: Identify strategic weaknesses capacity at critical locations
- Strategy: Get ahead of the curve for the environmental impacts of decommissioning and subsea component removal
The CEWS Joint Industry Partnership
The CEWS Joint Industry Partnership (JIP) officially launched with partners in 2023, delivering three key programme outputs. From January 2025, ORE Catapult has opened the CEWS JIP to any organisation within the wind sector, with the aim of uniting the wind energy supply chain to develop sustainable practices.
Membership
By joining the CEWS JIP, members can access our industry-leading Turbine Recycling and Circular Economy (TRACE) Tool, non-public industry reports and receive a bespoke business report or case study tailored to your organisation’s specific needs.
Moreover, members will have the opportunity to guide the CEWS programme direction and attend in-person networking workshops.
Join the CEWS JIP to help us to maximise resource efficiency and minimise environmental impact. Contact circular@ore.catapult.org.uk for more membership information.
Current CEWS projects and outputs
ORE Catapult has developed and delivered significant work across CEWS seed projects and other collaborative research projects. A brief introduction to each of these projects and research outputs is detailed below:
- Material Passport Example
Already used in some other sectors for collecting and transferring information related to sustainability, circularity and value retention along the entire product lifecycle. As products move from supply chain to consumers to end of life, material passports can be continually updated with details such as raw material use, manufacturing processes and product repair records.
- Decommissioning Case Study: CEWS Materials Mapping
CEWS is building the body of knowledge required to establish standard practice and guidance for decommissioning offshore wind farms so that the sector may avoid the expensive and lengthy trial-and-error processes experienced by other sectors. This Decommissioning Case Study produced for Phase 1 of CEWS examines the readiness of the materials reprocessing industry to handle the quantity and types of materials arising from decommissioning of a generic geared and direct drive turbine.
- Turbine Recycling and Circular Economy (TRACE) Tool
The TRACE Tool is a comprehensive resource used to understand the lifecycle of wind turbine materials and foster sustainable practices. This tool offers actionable insights into repurposing, reusing or recycling components and materials, post-wind farm decommissioning.
Previous CEWS projects
- End of Life Materials Mapping for Offshore Wind (ELMWIND)
In collaboration with key stakeholders, ORE Catapult will develop knowledge of the wind industry components, their population (current and forecasted), estimated material constituents and their end of life route map for recycling, reuse, refurbishment or disposal strategies. This industry intelligence is envisaged to lead the sector towards making key decisions required for circular economy by enabling effective economical and environmental end of life decisions. It will also support the development of supply chains and technologies by providing realistic, robust data and insights into the materials used by the industry and forecasts of their end of design life strategies.
Precise data on the material make up of wind turbines and their components are often commercially guarded due to sensitivities. However, with suitable anonymity and industry expertise, this project will develop a Component Knowledge database that will capture the key components of the industry and their materials makeup. Subsequently, a materials route map will be developed to identify the possible end of life pathways currently available for the industry materials.
