Gkantou, M, Rebelo, C and Baniotopoulos, C (2020) Life Cycle Assessment of Tall Onshore Hybrid Steel Wind Turbine Towers. Energies, 13 (15). ISSN 1996-1073

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Abstract

Increasing needs for taller wind turbines with bigger capacities, intended for places with high wind velocities or at higher altitudes, have led to new technologies in the wind energy industry. A recently introduced structural system for onshore wind turbine towers is the hybrid steel tower. Comprehension of the environmental response of this hybrid steel structural system is warranted. Even though life cycle assessments (LCAs) for conventional wind turbine tubular towers exist, the environmental performance of this new hybrid structure has not been reported. The present paper examines the LCA of 185 m tall hybrid towers. Considerations made for the LCA procedure are meticulously described, including particular attention at the erection and transportation stage. The highest environmental impacts arise during the manufacturing stage followed by the erection stage. The tower is the component with the largest carbon emissions and energy requirements. The obtained LCA footprints of hybrid towers are also compared to the literature data on conventional towers, resulting in similar environmental impacts.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	02 Physical Sciences, 09 Engineering
Subjects:	T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
Divisions:	Civil Engineering (merged with Built Env 10 Aug 20)
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2020 11:48
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 06:51
DOI or ID number:	10.3390/en13153950
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/13459

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