
Development of a Comprehensive Circular Economy Model for Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Power: A Case Study of DTE Electric and Gas
Within the next two decades, the first generations of utility-scale wind and solar technologies will enter their end-of-life (EOL). To achieve a goal of pollution-free energy, power utilities are exploring the idea of implementing circular economy (CE) principles with quantitative tools. CE is a pathway to managing the substantial material waste that will be generated when the current generation of infrastructure expires. A major barrier to implementing CE in today’s energy market is the lack of understanding of the economic and environmental impacts of nonlinear waste pathways. To address this gap in understanding, the project aims to develop an LCA-based model that will evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing CE strategies across economic and environmental impact categories. A literature review identified prevalent CE strategies. A dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) was conducted. The results of these analyses were integrated into a user-friendly tool that bridges the gap in EOL knowledge for renewable technologies within a power sector context.
Gustavo Cordero, MS (SusSys); Pengyi Du, MS (SusSys); Hanlin Tian, MS (SusSys); Harrison Watson, MS (SusSys)