Empirical life cycle analysis (LCA) of wind turbines
摘要
This paper approaches in a didactic manner the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for wind turbines, starting from the definition of the purpose and limits of the LCA system, continuing with the Life Cycle Inventory—LCI, and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). This methodology is applied as an LCA case study to a 15 MW wind farm, consisting of 5 3 MW turbines, mounted in south-eastern Romania. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the embodied energy, emissions (air), environmental impacts, Energy and GHG intensity, Energy and GHGs payback time without using LCA softwares. The quantities of component materials of the wind farm established on the basis of the life cycle inventory (LCI) show that a percentage distribution of materials of concrete of 60%, followed by iron with 34%, a difference of 6% being of the other materials. Based on the selected Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) of the materials and the quantities of materials necessary to build the wind farm, were determined on the energy side, the Energy Intensity and Energy Pay Back Time (EPBT) and of course from the environment point, was calculate the GHG payback time and the GHG intensity, last expressed in gCO2-eq/kWh as a normalized value for 1kWh energy delivered to the grid. Energy Pay Back Time (EPBT) was calculated based on Energy Intensity, and the latter quantifying the energy consumed in the production, operation, and maintenance of a wind farm relative to the total energy produced by the wind turbines over their entire lifecycle, obtaining the EPBT value of 6.1 months. The GHG emissions produced during the construction and operation of a wind farm lead to a GHG payback period of 7.8 months. Finally, it must be mentioned that Empirical Life cycle analysis (LCA) of wind turbines is a useful tool for training young beginners (master's and doctoral students), in the understanding and analysis of the environmental impact of renewable energies.