Funded by UK Research and Innovation’s ‘UK Regulatory Science and Innovation Networks’ (RS&IN) funding call, the ‘Regulations to Ensure Sustainable Circular Use at End-of-life for Wind’ (RESCUE) Project was set up in early 2024 to establish a comprehensive and robust end-of-life materials network for the wind sector.

ORE Catapult leads the ongoing project, alongside the University of Leeds, the University of the West of England, the University of Birmingham, EMR and Ionic Technologies. The partners identified that the need for a well-established end-of-life materials-handling network had become increasingly important due to the UK’s earliest wind turbines approaching the end of their operational lifespans.

 

Discovery Phase

The discovery phase engaged stakeholders and identified their priorities, mapped the policy and regulatory landscape and reviewed governance issues. Through the work completed during the discovery phase, the partners have established the groundwork for a network of wind, supply chain and regulatory stakeholders to identify challenges within the circular supply chain, as well as a collaborative forum to explore solutions.

 

Implementation Phase

Following the completion of the 6-month discovery phase in January 2025, the project has now entered the implementation phase. This phase aims to build on the work carried out during the discovery phase and centres on the topics of waste regulation, navigation of the regulatory landscape and standardisation activities.

As part of the implementation phase, the RESCUE network is hosting workshops across the UK to enable diverse participation of stakeholders that can capture the variability in the development and implementation of regulations across the UK. To ensure regional coverage, the network will host four workshops across the four British home nations.

The first of the workshops was held on the 10^th of March in London. The network heard from stakeholders and held discussions about the barriers and possible solutions to the regulatory and policy challenges experienced on the path to a circular economy for the wind sector.

 

Next Steps

Our research is focusing on reviewing the implementation of resources and waste management regulations for wind turbines, conducting a gap analysis to assess the integration of these regulations in end-of-use governance, and co-producing guidelines clarifying the roles of diverse environmental regulators.

To achieve this, we are conducting eight case studies – comparing cases of decommissioned or repowered wind farms in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – based on interviews with the regulators and companies involved, to understand the variety in regulatory implementation.

The case studies will contribute to a report on the variety and best practice in implementing resources and waste regulations across the UK. The results will be discussed at a regulatory roundtable and inform the co-production of guidelines for the integrated application of regulations in the wind end-of-use supply chain.

Over the next 10 months we aim to prepare:

• A publicly accessible database of policies, regulations, and governance studies and their roles in wind turbine end of use management with a narrative summary.
• Case study report with recommendations for implementation of resources and waste regulations,
• Recommendations for integrating resources and waste regulation in wind turbine end-of-use guidelines,
• Report on barriers, challenges and recommendations for navigating the regulatory landscape, both for industry and for regulators,
• Contributions towards standardisation activities,
• Regulatory sandbox proposal, to pilot possible solutions,
• Summary policy brief.

 

RESCUE Workshops

The remaining workshops are open for registration, with more information available below.

• England – 10 March 2025 [Concluded]
• Northern Ireland – 1 April 2025 [Concluded]
• Scotland – 13 May 2025
• Wales – 20 May 2025