| Work Detail |
A group of researchers has studied the complications in the dismantling of abandoned wind and solar farms in Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Italy and Spain, which are mainly due to gaps and deficiencies in regulations. When renewable assets approach the end of their operational life, the project owner has several options (not all legally recognized): decommissioning, repowering, project renewal, operation to failure or abandonment of on-site equipment. Despite this possible combination of uses, a research group from the University of Granada has analysed the landscape legacy of abandoned renewable projects (mainly wind and photovoltaic), since the physical footprint of renewable technologies can cause long-term alterations in land use and visual aesthetics. Scientists have reviewed the research on waste management and decommissioning strategies and say that it has grown, but significant gaps remain in understanding how existing regulatory frameworks address – or fail to address – these challenges. “It is therefore crucial that we know whether adequate regulations exist to address the lifespan of renewable energy infrastructure as we think about how to recycle the landscapes they have occupied,” explain the authors of the paper “ Abandoning renewable energy projects in Europe and South America : An emerging consideration in the recycling of energy landscapes”, to be published in April this year in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development , where they analyse the obstacles to the formal decommissioning of these facilities. “So far, there are no reliable estimates of abandoned renewable installations in Europe and South America; however, due to the increasing intensity of renewable deployment, thousands of abandoned turbines and solar panels may soon accumulate around the world and generate new conflicts over land use,” they add. The main conclusion of the work is that abandoned wind farms are a consequence of gaps and deficiencies in regulations on the decommissioning of renewable energy infrastructure, particularly in the case of facilities abandoned before reaching the end of their operational useful life. “The need to improve these regulations will be crucial to ensure the restoration and recycling of renewable energy landscapes in the future,” they say. However, they have also analysed other cases in which dismantling has not taken place in infrastructures for which it has been formally requested. This is the case of the Keyenberg (Germany) and Jepírachi (Colombia) wind farms and the Núñez de Balboa (Spain) photovoltaic solar power plant. In Keynberg, authorities have urged the owners to stop dismantling the wind farm to make way for an open-cast mine, after campaigners said the move symbolised a step backwards in the governments climate protection plans. In the case of Jepírachi, the company is awaiting the formal declaration from the environmental authority to begin the dismantling phase. As for Núñez de Balboa, the court ordered the developer to dismantle this photovoltaic plant and return the 500 hectares of land on which it is located to its owner, considering that they were illegally expropriated, although it is not legally obliged to restore the landscape to its state prior to the project. However, this solar plant remains in operation while the developer appeals to the courts. Abandoned projects In the study, scientists have analysed nine renewable energy projects, of which only one is photovoltaic. They are located in Italy, Spain, Venezuela and Argentina. Three plants were abandoned before they began to operate and six during their operation. Among the infrastructures abandoned during operation, three were deactivated and three continue to inject electricity into the grid. The reasons identified for abandonment can be grouped into the following topologies: poor planning, lack of management, economic issues, technological issues and other interests. The Vinapoló photovoltaic park, in the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia , was abandoned because the injection of energy was not permitted because it exceeded the initially agreed installed capacity, according to the authors of the article. The owners are said to be negotiating its sale to put it into operation, but since 2011 no authority has demanded that it be dismantled. Two wind farms, Butera (Italy) and La Guajira (Venezuela), were abandoned before they could be put into operation. The first was abandoned because the local municipality did not carry out the necessary expropriations to build the electrical substations. Construction of the second plant, with a government budget of $225 million, began in 2011 but was never completed. Insufficient coordination and planning apparently prevented the project from being connected to the grid because the interconnection infrastructure and substations were left unfinished. In 2018, Venezuela’s then Minister of Electric Energy, attempting to resume construction of this wind farm, announced that 80% of the park’s “strategic material” had been vandalized. The wind turbines had been looted, with the rotors dismantled and all parts removed, and two machines even fell to the ground and were subsequently sold as scrap. The other three wind farms (Montaña Mina, Monte Arci and Jorge Romanutti) were abandoned while in operation. Montaña Mina, located in San Bartolomé (in the Canary Islands, Spain), came into operation in 1992. The wind farm was abandoned in 2014 due to the bankruptcy of the company that managed it and has been inoperative since 2017. Currently, the wind turbines are damaged and obsolete, but because the company that owned it was bankrupt, dismantling works were not carried out. An attempt to repower the wind farm in 2018 was not approved, as the local authorities did not consider it necessary and wanted to recover that part of the mountain. Although the dismantling of this wind farm has been requested on three occasions, it has not materialized because it entailed a high cost that the city council does not want to assume, arguing that it is not its responsibility. In the case of the Monte Arci wind farm in Italy, the wind farm, with 34 turbines, was opened in 2000 but operated for only a few months before being decommissioned. It was abandoned because the turbines became technologically obsolete, becoming a pile of scrap metal within a few years. Numerous letters, warnings, appeals and an eviction order were sent, but little action was taken until 2010, when the owner company was contacted to clear and restore the site. Partial compliance was achieved. After more than two decades of struggle, dismantling of the wind turbines and restoration work on the landscape finally began in 2020, but the landscape was not fully restored: the access roads to the wind turbines are still part of the Natural Park. It is now necessary to verify the contamination of the subsoil and determine the compensatory works for the damage suffered. Conclusions: lack of regulations In reality, the pace of wind farm decommissioning in Europe is slower than expected, mainly due to the lack of laws and regulations requiring owners, companies and developers to be accountable. Full decommissioning depends on the necessary legal agreements being in place. This research shows that none of the countries where the energy projects in question are located had specific regulations when these projects were authorised that contemplated the recovery of the environment and the landscape and the management of waste from abandoned projects or those that had reached the end of their operational phase. Although countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy have already regulated the decommissioning of wind farms by incorporating security deposits or insurance to cover decommissioning, they do not specify liability in the event that the wind farm ceases to operate before the end of its technical operational phase. Only Denmark has specifically included in its legislation the statement that decommissioning must begin one year after the wind farm has ceased to operate at the latest. In conclusion, the scientists point out that measures should be taken to ensure the full restoration of the territories after the decommissioning of the facilities. “In this regard, we recommend that policy-makers and decision-makers consider adopting regulatory frameworks similar to those in countries such as Denmark, where decommissioning planning is mandatory even before projects reach the end of their technical-operational phase. Since every project subject to environmental assessment must include a decommissioning phase, the issue is not that it is not important, but that current regulations do not require this phase to be carried out. It is therefore crucial that policies emphasize the establishment of regulations and guarantees that cover the entire life cycle of projects to ensure their true sustainability,” they conclude. |
