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Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Onshore and Offshore Wind Farms in Texas
Abstract and Figures
The last decade witnessed a quantum increase in wind energy contribution to the U.S. renewable electricity mix. Although the overall environmental impact of wind energy is miniscule in comparison to fossil-fuel energy, the early stages of the wind energy life cycle have potential for a higher environmental impact. This study attempts to quantify the relative contribution of individual stages toward life cycle impacts by conducting a life cycle assessment with SimaPro® and the Impact 2002+ impact assessment method. A comparative analysis of individual stages at three locations, onshore, shallow-water, and deep-water, in Texas and the gulf coast indicates that material extraction/processing would be the dominant stage with an average impact contribution of 72% for onshore, 58% for shallow-water, and 82% for deep-water across the 15 midpoint impact categories. The payback times for CO2 and energy consumption range from 6 to 14 and 6 to 17 months, respectively, with onshore farms having shorter payback times. The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) were in the range of 5–7 gCO2eq/kWh for the onshore location, 6–9 CO2eq/kWh for the shallow-water location, and 6–8 CO2eq/kWh for the deep-water location. A sensitivity analysis of the material extraction/processing stage to the electricity sourcing stage indicates that replacement of lignite coal with natural gas or wind would lead to marginal improvements in midpoint impact categories.
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... Chipindula et al. [71] evaluated onshore and offshore wind farms in the USA, conducting an LCA using SimaPro [19] and the Impact 2002+ impact assessment method. They compared three different settings-onshore, shallow-water, and deep-water-along the Texas and Gulf Coast, revealing that material extraction and processing were the most impactful stages, accounting for an average of 72% of impacts onshore, 58% in shallow-water, and 82% in deep-water across 15 midpoint impact categories. ...
... The steel used in the towers (typically installed in tubular steel structures) is almost entirely recyclable [71], allowing for substantial recovery of the materials employed in its construction. However, the scarcity of data and the absence of recycling technologies for composite materials like turbine blades marks it as a critical area for future research [70]. ...
The growing urgency for sustainable energy solutions necessitates a deeper understanding of the environmental impacts of renewable technologies. This article aims to synthesize and analyze Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) in this domain, providing a comprehensive perspective. We systematically categorized 2923 articles into four sectors: (1) photovoltaic systems, (2) wind energy systems, (3) solar thermal systems, and (4) materials for auxiliary industry supporting these systems. A comparative analysis was conducted to identify methodological consistencies and disparities across these sectors. The findings reveal diverse methodological approaches and a range of environmental impacts, highlighting the complexities in assessing renewable energy systems. The article underscores the significance of material selection in photovoltaic, solar, and wind systems, providing a critical overview of the current state of LCA research in renewable energy and stressing the need for standardized methodologies. It also identifies gaps in recent research, offering insights for future studies focused on integrating environmental, economic, and social considerations in renewable energy assessments. Integrating environmental assessments provides a robust framework for making informed decisions on sustainable technologies. The findings are critical for projects that balance technological needs with sustainability goals.
... Chipindula et al. [62] evaluated onshore and offshore wind farms in the USA, conducting an LCA using SimaPro [19] and the Impact 2002+ impact assessment method. They compared three different settings-onshore, shallow-water, and deep-water-along the Texas and Gulf Coast, revealing that material extraction and processing were the most impactful stages, accounting for an average of 72 % of impacts onshore, 58 % in shallow-water, and 82 % in deep-water across 15 midpoint impact categories. ...
... The steel used in the towers (typically installed in tubular steel structures) is almost entirely recyclable [62], allowing for substantial recovery of the materials employed in its construction. However, the scarcity of data and the absence of recycling technologies for composite materials like turbine blades marks it as a critical area for future research [61]. ...
The growing urgency for sustainable energy solutions necessitates a deeper understanding of the environmental impacts of renewable technologies. This article aims to synthesize and analyze Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) in this domain, providing a comprehensive perspective. We systematically categorize 2,923 articles into four communities: (1) Photovoltaic systems, (2) Wind energy systems, (3) Materials for auxiliary industry of photovoltaic and wind systems, and (4) Solar thermal systems. A comparative analysis is conducted to identify methodological consistencies and disparities across these communities. The findings reveal diverse methodological approaches and a range of environmental impacts, highlighting the complexities in assessing renewable energy systems. The article underscores the significance of material selection in photovoltaic and wind systems, providing a critical overview of the current state of LCA research in renewable energy and stressing the need for standardized methodologies. It also identifies gaps in recent research, offering insights for future studies focused on integrating environmental, economic, and social considerations in renewable energy assessments.As a case study, an LCA was used to evaluate two energy supply methods for a sensor network: one connected to the public grid and another powered by a photovoltaic panel. The off-grid system, while more environmentally friendly by reducing reliance on non-renewable energy sources, posed challenges due to the high environmental impact of battery production and disposal. Integrating environmental assessments provides a robust framework for making informed decisions on sustainable technologies. The findings are critical for projects that balance technological needs with sustainability goals.
... The most reliable method of obtaining the characteristics of energy generation by a wind turbine in a specific location is to erect a measurement tower and perform year-round measurements of wind speed [47,48]. There are also simulation techniques, but they have their accuracy and limitations [49][50][51]. ...
This article describes an example of using the measurement data from photovoltaic systems and wind turbines to perform practical probabilistic calculations around green hydrogen generation. First, the power generated in one month by a ground-mounted photovoltaic system with a peak power of 3 MWp is described. Using the Metalog family of probability distributions, the probability of generating selected power levels corresponding to the amount of green hydrogen produced is calculated. Identical calculations are performed for the simulation data, allowing us to determine the power produced by a wind turbine with a maximum power of 3.45 MW. After interpolating both time series of the power generated by the renewable energy sources to a common sampling time, they are summed. For the sum of the power produced by the photovoltaic system and the wind turbine, the probability of generating selected power levels corresponding to the amount of green hydrogen produced is again calculated. The presented calculations allow us to determine, with probability distribution accuracy, the amount of hydrogen generated from the energy sources constituting a mix of photovoltaics and wind. The green hydrogen production model includes the hardware and the geographic context. It can be used to determine the preliminary assumptions related to the production of large amounts of green hydrogen in selected locations. The calculations presented in this article are a practical example of Business Intelligence.
... 125 The spinning of turbines at onshore and offshore wind farms allows for the harnessing of wind power, which results in the production of electricity without the emission of CO 2 or any other pollutants. 126,127 The use of wind power has been a major factor in the substitution of coal and the reduction of GHGs from power plants. 128 Improvements in wind turbine design, grid integration, and energy storage technologies have made wind energy systems more competitive with conventional fossil fuel production. ...
Over recent years, many companies and countries have established net-zero emission objectives for 2050 or sooner. Frankly, there will be fraught with challenges and dangers to some extent to attain net-zero. Therefore, we scrutinized the importance of net-zero strategies and plans/roadmap to attain these net-zero goals in this review. We found that overcoming the diverse obstacles including settling on a formal definition of the concept, increasing global financing and infrastructure investments, and ensuring that advancements in green technology occur while keeping their costs low or subsidizing them is very imperative to quickly transition away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Other challenges could include getting the net-zero ball moving on difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, choosing the correct carbon offsets, not relying solely on renewable energy credits, and striking the right balance between climate-related policies at various levels. Based on the review analysis, we suggested some solutions to achieving net-zero by 2050, as well as long-run scenarios. In short, all components of sustainable development, socioeconomic sustainability, or the pursuit of broad developing opportunities must be matched with a net-zero emission-based economy, this ensures stability and harmony in the balance between national targets and international benefits.
... 125 The spinning of turbines at onshore and offshore wind farms allows for the harnessing of wind power, which results in the production of electricity without the emission of CO 2 or any other pollutants. 126,127 The use of wind power has been a major factor in the substitution of coal and the reduction of GHGs from power plants. 128 Improvements in wind turbine design, grid integration, and energy storage technologies have made wind energy systems more competitive with conventional fossil fuel production. ...
Over recent years, many companies and countries have established net-zero emission objectives for 2050 or sooner. Frankly, there will be fraught with challenges and dangers to some extent to attain net-zero. Therefore, we scrutinized the importance of net-zero strategies and plans/roadmap to attain these net-zero goals in this review. We found that overcoming the diverse obstacles including settling on a formal definition of the concept, increasing global financing and infrastructure investments, and ensuring that advancements in green technology occur while keeping their costs low or subsidizing them is very imperative to quickly transition away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Other challenges could include getting the net-zero ball moving on difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, choosing the correct carbon offsets, not relying solely on renewable energy credits, and striking the right balance between climate-related policies at various levels. Based on the review analysis, we suggested some solutions to achieving net-zero by 2050, as well as long-run scenarios. In short, all components of sustainable development, socioeconomic sustainability, or the pursuit of broad developing opportunities must be matched with a net-zero emission-based economy, this ensures stability and harmony in the balance between national targets and international benefits.
... In addition to end-of-life recycling issues, which are basically the same as described above for onshore wind turbines, the potential environmental impacts of decommissioning offshore wind turbines also include fuel emissions from workboats, contamination from pollutant chemicals, and underwater noise from deconstruction activities [60]. Still, considering all life cycle steps, the decommissioning and end-of-life phase of offshore wind turbines plays rather a minor role in terms of environmentally harmful emissions [65][66][67]. For reasons such as avoiding noise generated during decommissioning which could cause problems for marine species and to protect artificial reefs at turbine foundations, it may even be environmentally beneficial not to remove offshore wind farms entirely after their service life but to leave foundations in place [68,69]. ...
Background
Renewable energies are key to reduce CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts of fossil-fueled electricity generation. However, renewable energy systems can also cause negative environmental effects. In this paper, we analyze the potential environmental trade-offs associated with different spatio-technical (de)centralization options for a renewable electricity system. For this purpose, we first review the potential environmental life cycle impacts of key technologies for renewable electricity systems. Subsequently, we develop a framework identifying which factors determine actual environmental effects of renewable electricity systems. We apply the framework to four basic spatio-technical (de)centralization options for the future Germany electricity system.
Results
Our analysis shows that all (de)centralization options are associated with potential environmental trade-offs. We find that the (de)centralization of the system is a relevant factor determining these trade-offs. For instance, the two more centralized options considered have lower environmental impacts related to PV, whereas the two more decentralized options have lower environmental impacts related to grid infrastructure. However, we also find that the trade-offs depend on the specific way (de)centralization is pursued. For instance, only in one of the two considered more decentralized development options, there is a potential environmental trade-off between higher impacts related to battery storage and lower impacts related to offshore wind power.
Conclusions
Our analysis reveals that the spatio-technical (de)centralization of a renewable electricity system plays a role for its environmental trade-offs while further factors like the institutional and stakeholder management in place also shape the environmental trade-offs. Policy makers should acknowledge the identified potential environmental trade-offs and their influencing factors when making policies favoring certain spatio-technical (de)centralization options.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) is an inevitable part of ocean wave energy systems. This paper presents an LCA of the Sindhuja-I ocean wave energy converter (WEC). The WEC is a point absorber type WEC tested at the Tuticorin port in India. This study utilized the ISO 14044 standard and SimaPro LCA software to assess the environmental impact of the WEC in comparison to a coal power plant, offshore wind, and tidal energy devices. The functional unit considered is the generation of 1 kWh of electricity. The WEC has a global warming potential of 174 gCO 2 -eq/kWh, showcasing an impressive 81.9% reduction in emissions compared to coal power plants. Stainless steel contributes significantly to emissions, accounting for 93.7%, 94.6%, 99.4%, and 94.1% of total CO 2 , NO x , SO 2 , and PM 2.5 emissions, respectively. The paper emphasizes the potential environmental benefits of recycling WEC materials at the end of their lifespan. Furthermore, the study suggests that the longevity of a point absorber device can positively impact its overall environmental footprint, given its minimal moving parts and low maintenance requirements. The WEC has a promising environmental footprint of ocean wave energy conversion, particularly compared to traditional fossil fuel-based power generation.
With single components weighing up to hundreds of tonnes and lifted to heights of approximately 100 m, offshore wind turbines can pose risks to personnel, assets, and the environment during installation and maintenance interventions. Guidelines and standards for health and safety in lifting operations exist; however, having people directly beneath the load is still common practice in offshore wind turbine installations. Concepts for human-free offshore lifting operations in the categories of guidance and control, connections, and assembly are studied in this work. This paper documents the process of applying Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), using experts’ opinions for the importance of defined criteria obtained by conducting an industry survey, to benchmark the suitability of the concepts at two stages. Stage one streamlined possible options and stage two ranked the remaining suite of options after further development. The survey results showed that criteria such as ‘reduction of risk’, ‘handling improvement’ and ‘reliability of operation’ were most important. The most viable options, weighted by industry opinion, to remove personnel from areas of high risk are: Boom Lock and tag lines, a camera system with mechanical guidance, and automated bolt installation/fastening for seafastening. The decision analysis framework developed can be applied to similar problems to inform choices subject to multiple criteria.
This study characterized and evaluated the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different wind electricity generation systems by (a) performing a comprehensive review of the wind electricity generation system life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and (b) statistically evaluating the life cycle GHG emissions (expressed in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt hour, gCO2e/kWh). A categorization index (with unique category codes, formatted as ‘axis of rotation-installed location-power generation capacity’) was adopted for use in this study to characterize the reviewed wind electricity generation systems. The unique category codes were labeled by integrating the names from the three wind power sub-classifications, i.e., the axis of rotation of the wind turbine [horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)], the location of the installation [onshore (ON), offshore (OFF)], and the electricity production capacity [small (S), intermediate (I), large (L)]. The characterized wind electricity generation systems were statistically evaluated to assess the reduction in life cycle GHG emissions. A total of five unique categorization codes (HAWT-ON-S, HAWT-ON-I, HAWT-ON-L, HAWT-OFF-L, VAWT-ON-S) were designated to the 29 wind electricity generation LCA studies (representing 74 wind system cases) using the proposed categorization index. The mean life cycle GHG emissions resulting from the use of HAWT-ON-S (N = 3), HAWT-ON-I (N = 4), HAWT-ON-L (N = 58), HAWT-OFF-L (N = 8), and VAWT-ON-S (N = 1) wind electricity generation systems are 38.67, 11.75, 15.98, 12.9, and 46.4 gCO2e/kWh, respectively. The HAWT-ON-I wind electricity generation systems produced the minimum life cycle GHGs than other wind electricity generation systems.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate various means of wind power turbines installation in the Korean west–south wind farm (Test bed 100 MW, Demonstrate site 400 MW). We presented the marine environment of the southwest offshore wind farm in order to decide the appropriate installation vessel to be used in this site. The various vessels would be WTIV (Wind turbine installation vessel), jack-up barge, or floating crane … etc. We analyzed the installation cost of offshore wind turbine and the transportation duration for each vessel. The analysis results showed the most suitable installation means for offshore wind turbine in the Korean west–south wind farm.
In order to facilitate increased renewable energy production, there continues to be a global increase in wind turbine installation. When quantifying the carbon offsets from these installations, the production emissions are rarely accounted for. This paper reports on the embodied carbon emissions from the production of 14 wind turbines, rated between 50 kW and 3.4 MW. The embodied emissions were quantified from emission factors specific to each material involved in manufacture, transport to site, and installation of the turbines. The resulting trend was that higher-rated turbines had greater embodied carbon emissions with one 3 MW turbine incorporating 1046 tCO2eq compared to only 58 tCO2eq for an 80 kW turbine. However, the greater electricity output of the turbines offset these emissions more quickly with a recovery in 64 days for a 3.4 MW turbine compared to 354 days for a 100 kW one. This also resulted in lower carbon emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity generated and quicker payback as a percentage of lifetime of 0.9% for a 3.4 MW turbine compared to 4.3% and 4.9% for a 50 and 100 kW turbines, respectively. The findings of this analysis indicate that a preference for installation of higher-rated, over lower-rated, turbines should be favoured for greater environmental benefits.
Load factors, defined as portion of utilized engine power, are used in estimation of the diesel mining equipment fuel consumption. Every type of equipment is involved in the specific work operation, common in quarrying of crushed stone. Furthermore, load factors are specific for the equipment type and their application/operating conditions. Based on the mining company’s empirical data on fuel consumption, load factors of the main equipment in quarrying of crushed stone are determined in this paper. This includes bulldozer, backhoe excavators, wheel loaders, trucks, blasthole drill, mobile crushing and screening plants, and mobile belt conveyor. With an assumption of similar operating conditions, those factors can be considered as characteristic for small quarries of crushed stone, but also for mining on other surface pits, depending on the specific equipment application. The obtained load factors are compared to the available data from other sources in order to verify the results and establish the appropriate procedure for assessment ofunknown load factors in different operating conditions.
Wind-power development in the U.S. occurs primarily on private land, producing royalties for landowners through private contracts with wind-farm operators. Texas, the U.S. leader in wind-power production with well-documented support for wind power, has virtually all of its ~12 GW of wind capacity sited on private lands. Determining the spatial distribution of royalty payments from wind energy is a crucial first step to understanding how renewable power may alter land-based livelihoods of some landowners, and, as a result, possibly encourage land-use changes. We located ~1700 wind turbines (~2.7 GW) on 241 landholdings in Nolan and Taylor counties, Texas, a major wind-development region. We estimated total royalties to be ~47,879 but with significant differences among quintiles and between two sub-regions. Unequal distribution of royalties results from land-tenure patterns established before wind-power development because of a “property advantage,” defined as the pre-existing land-tenure patterns that benefit the fraction of rural landowners who receive wind turbines. A “royalty paradox” describes the observation that royalties flow to a small fraction of landowners even though support for wind power exceeds 70 percent.
Installation of floating wind turbines is a challenging task. The time and costs are closely related to the installation method chosen. This paper investigates the performance of an efficient installation concept – a catamaran wind turbine installation vessel. The vessel carries pre-assembled wind turbine units including towers and rotor nacelle assemblies. Each unit is placed onto a pre-installed offshore support structure (in this paper a spar floater) during installation. The challenge is to analyse the responses of the multibody system (catamaran-spar-wind turbine) under simultaneous wind and wave loads. Time-domain simulations were conducted for the coupled catamaran-spar system with mechanical coupling, passive mooring system for the spar, and dynamic positioning control for the catamaran. We focus on the steady-state stage prior to the mating process between one turbine unit and the spar, and discuss the effects of wind loads and wave conditions on motion responses of the catamaran and the spar, relative motions at the mating point, gripper forces and mooring forces. The relative motion at the mating point is less sensitive to the blade orientation, but influenced by the wave conditions. Under the investigated sea states, the present installation method shows decent performance.
This study attempted to evaluate the environmental impact and energy benefit of offshore wind power systems using life cycle assessment (LCA) and net energy analysis. The environmental impact of offshore wind power systems is based primarily on ferrous metal, which is used to install the foundations, towers, and nacelles. The impact categories with the greatest relevance were fossil fuels and respiratory inorganics. This study assumed that the life cycle of an offshore wind power system has four stages (production, installation, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life). Two scenarios were examined in this study. The major difference between the scenarios was that Scenario 2 included an offshore substation. The overall environmental impact in Scenario 2 was higher than that in Scenario 1 by approximately 10%. The net energy analysis in this study included the evaluations of cumulative energy demand (CED), energy return on investment (EROI), and energy payback time (EPT). For Scenarios 1 and 2, CED was 0.192 and 0.216 MJ/kWh, EROI was 18.7 and 16.7, and EPT was 12.8 and 14.4 months, respectively. Moreover, when the recycling of waste materials was considered, each scenario produced a 25% lower environmental impact, 30% lower energy requirement, and 4 months lower EPT.
This study aims to assess the environmental impacts related to the provision of 1 kWh to the grid from wind power in Europe and to suggest how life cycle assessment can inform technology development and system planning. Four representative power plants onshore (with 2.3 and 3.2 MW turbines) and offshore (4.0 and 6.0 MW turbines) with 2015 state-of-the-art technology data provided by Siemens Wind Power were assessed. The energy payback time was found to be less than 1 year for all technologies. The emissions of greenhouse gases amounted to less than 7 g CO2-eq/kWh for onshore and 11 g CO2-eq/kWh for offshore. Climate change impacts were found to be a good indicator for overall hotspot identification however attention should also be drawn to human toxicity and impacts from respiratory inorganics. The overall higher impact of offshore plants, compared to onshore ones, is mainly due to larger high-impact material requirements for capital infrastructure. In both markets the bigger turbines with more advanced direct drive generator technology is shown to perform better than the smaller geared ones. Capital infrastructure is the most impactful life cycle stage across impacts. It accounts for more than 79% and 70% of climate change impacts onshore and offshore respectively. The end-of-life treatment could lead to significant savings due to recycling, ca. 20–30% for climate change. In the manufacturing stage the impacts due to operations at the case company do not exceed 1% of the total life cycle impacts. This finding highlights the shared responsibility across multiple stakeholders and calls for collaborative efforts for comprehensive environmental management across organizations in the value chain. Real life examples are given in order to showcase how LCA results can inform decisions, e.g. for concept and product development and supply chain management. On a systems level the results can be used by energy planners when comparing with alternative energy sources.