RESCUE

Project title: The Regulations to Ensure Sustainable Circular Use at End-of-Life for Wind (RESCUE)

Project duration: January 2025-March 2026

Funder: UK Research and Innovation: UK Regulatory Science and Innovation Networks

Project leader for SPE: Dr Carla de Laurentis

Research partners/collaborators:

• ORE Catapult
• University of Leeds
• University of Birmingham
• EMR
• Ionic Technologies

The RESCUE project was established to determine the need and/or desire to identify current gaps and challenges for end-of-life materials management and processing, to support progress towards a more circular economy for the wind sector. As part of the project, UWE Bristol led research that aimed to:

• bring together evidence on the current practice of wind turbine end-of-use management
• understand how the wind supply chain is implementing regulations at the end of life of wind infrastructure.

This research provided insights from UK wind farm decommissioning, drawing on both case-based evidence and perspectives from industry innovators exploring circular end‐of‐life solutions.

Visit project website

• Summary of findings: Ten emerging insights on wind farm decommissioning in the UK.
• A briefing on Planning Conditions for End-of-Use of Onshore Wind Farms (PDF) was developed for one particularly thorny regulatory challenge, namely the lack of end-of-use planning.
• RESCUE established a network exploring regulatory drivers and barriers impacting on innovation in circular supply chains for the wind industry in the UK. Research and engagement focused on resources, waste and planning regulation, navigating the regulatory landscape, industrial standards, and capacity building. The project involved ca. 270 stakeholders from over a hundred organisations, informing a series of policy briefings.
• Fragmented ownership structures, inconsistent planning requirements, and the delayed involvement of decommissioning and waste management contractors are influencing decommissioning, limiting the potential opportunities for circular options at the end-of-life.
• What appears to be a clear regulatory framework on paper is reflected in implementation processes that are inconsistent across UK administrations and regulatory domains. These inconsistencies are experienced differently by regulators and industry.
• Learning and knowledge sharing mostly occurs through individual projects, personal networks and informal communication channels rather than through standardised procedures and mechanisms.
  
   

For more information about the project, please contact Dr Carla de Laurentis (carla.delaurentis@uwe.ac.uk).