Vestas has launched a new circularity roadmap that details a set of commitments to be implemented across the company’s value chain to accelerate its journey to reach zero-waste turbines by 2040.
The Danish manufacturer said the roadmap aims to set a new benchmark for the wind industry within circularity and waste reduction.
“By maturing our circularity plan, Vestas aims to develop the first fully circular wind turbine, capable of keeping turbine materials in circulation across the value chain for longer than ever before,” it said.
Vestas added that the roadmap marks an evolution of the previously announced ambition to produce zero-waste turbines by 2040, which was launched as part of its global sustainability strategy entitled ‘Sustainability in everything we do’.
The roadmap adds more detailed and more ambitious commitments, as well as organisational governance to execute on these commitments.
It also outlines circularity pathways for Vestas’ entire value chain by setting new targets across three key areas: design, operations and material recovery.
The ambition level is increased from last year’s announcement by adding commitments to increase material efficiency by 90%, achieve 100% rotor recyclability and reduce in supply chain waste by 50%, all by 2030.
Across operations, Vestas is committing to expand efforts to refurbish and reuse turbine components, whilst regionalising its repair and refurbishment infrastructure where possible.
The roadmap commits Vestas to achieve a 55% total refurbished component utilisation by 2030 and 75% by 2040, mainly by creating new repair loops for minor components.
Within material recovery, Vestas is committing to reduce the amount of manufacturing waste ending up in landfill to less than 1%, along with ensuring more than 94% of manufacturing materials are recycled by 2030.
This is an increase from 52% of materials being recycled today, the company said.
“The new circularity roadmap will ensure that Vestas can continue to offer competitive and differentiated solutions, that provide business-case certainty for customers in an evolving global energy market environment,” Vestas said.
Vestas head of sustainability Lisa Ekstrand said: “Eliminating waste from the turbine lifecycle is dependent on building a fully circular value chain.
“To succeed in this journey, it’s crucial for industry leaders to build mature pathways towards circularity and ensure these are fully adopted across their value chains, as this will help nurture the technological innovation, material volume and stakeholder collaboration needed to grow an industry-wide circular economy.
“This approach is at the heart of Vestas’ circularity roadmap, and through it, we aim to pave the way towards a fully circular economy for the wind industry.”