Money for the wind

On questions regarding long-standing Western trends in green energy

Global wind power showed its best annual result in its entire history in 2024. However, there is also a fair amount of flies in the ointment. Experts from various countries are increasingly sounding the alarm: it turns out that green technologies not only help the environment, but also harm it. This primarily concerns the operation and disposal of wind turbines.

Risks in forecasting 

Global wind power capacity totalled 1,136 GW last year, according to a recently published report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Its share in global electricity production is steadily approaching 10 percent. In 2024, 117 GW of new capacity was installed globally, accounting for one-fifth of the increase in new generation. The main role in the growth of wind energy use was played by five countries (see the infographic): they accounted for 81 percent of all new added capacity. 
In Europe, 16.4 GW of new wind power capacity was commissioned last year, of which 12.9 GW was in EU countries. Europe continues to be the second largest wind energy market in the world. 
However, GWEC believes that it is Europe that will be the main driving force of wind energy development in the next five years. The EU is nevertheless aware that the bias towards wind turbines involves significant risks.

Old means useless

While a wind turbine is new, everything is fine: it generates energy, and its maintenance is minimal. But first-generation wind turbines are becoming obsolete and need to be replaced with more modern and efficient ones. While almost everything in a wind turbine can be recycled today, things are much more complicated when it comes to blades: they are made of composite materials designed for long-term use, not for recycling. The weight of one blade, about 40 metres long (almost half a football pitch!), is seven tonnes. After photos of a landfill in Casper, Wyoming, USA, showing piles of wind turbine blades awaiting burial, went viral on the internet in 2019, a huge wave of criticism was directed at wind power. Some media outlets have already voiced an unfavourable forecast: by 2050, the total weight of discarded ‘wings’ could exceed 40 million tonnes. That’s the weight of almost 400,000 locomotives! 
By the end of this decade, Germany, Spain and Denmark will be racking their brains over blade disposal, with Italy, France and Portugal gradually catching up — it was there that wind turbines were most actively installed at the end of 2024. 
In Denmark, the USA and other countries, work is certainly underway on a technology for the complete recycling of blades. Scientists from two American universities have created blades from alternative materials, and they are currently being tested. 
Yet, when exactly the idea will be put into practice is unknown. In the meantime, the question of disposing of old equipment, which is becoming more and more abundant, remains open. 

Feeling sorry for birds

The fact that wind turbines are deadly to migrating birds and bats has been discussed in various ways over the years. US President Donald Trump, having just returned to the White House, signed an executive order suspending the issuance of federal permits for the installation of wind farms in coastal waters and on land, and also ordering a review of licences already granted. He referred to wind power as the most expensive form of energy.
There is more food for thought. In 2023, an article appeared in the PLOS One international scientific journal about the results of a study conducted by a group of American ornithologists. 
They studied data from 248 wind turbines in the USA and counted the flying creatures found dead in the vicinity of the turbines from 2009 to 2021. The result: 3,789 birds and 10,291 bats.

 

What about Belarus?

In our country, the development of alternative energy began in the mid-1990s. However, it did not become widespread. This is primarily due to expediency. The main barrier to the development of wind power is insufficiently favourable natural conditions. Due to the relatively low average wind speed in Belarus, only low-power wind generators can mainly be used. In the years 2016–2019, 36 wind power installations with a total installed capacity of 56.9 MW were put into operation in the country.
In 2020, the use of biomass — mainly wood fuel — accounted for about 97 percent of the structure of renewable energy sources, and only just over three percent was from the energy of water, wind and sun. This fact is recorded in the Energy Saving state programme for 2021–2025.  
For the current five-year period, the document envisages an increase in the production of electrical and thermal energy through the use of the energy of natural movement of water currents, wind and sun. But this is clearly not a priority. The lowest investment volumes and short payback periods are primarily about wood fuel. By the end of the current five-year period, it is planned to ramp up the fuel chips production capacity to 2.1 million cubic metres per year. It should also be kept in mind that the commissioning of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has radically changed the situation in the domestic energy sector. The use of renewable energy sources, especially local ones, is now mainly linked to the arrival of light and heat in buildings and at enterprises in industry, transport, and agriculture. In other words, wind is not needed everywhere, but where its energy can be used to maximum effect.


According to Deputy Energy Minister Olga Prudnikova, Belarus’ energy complex is currently one of the most efficient and cleanest in the world, “We are making a significant contribution to climate preservation through the commissioning of the BelNPP, which accounts for over 40 percent of the total electricity production in the energy system’s balance. We are also meeting energy security indicators that characterise the cleanliness of our electricity. This concerns the increased use of renewable and local energy sources.”
In the Address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly in 2022, the President emphasised that Europe was making a sharp turn towards peaceful nuclear power and announcing investments of €500 billion by 2050 in a new nuclear energy programme, “So we were right not to halt the construction of the nuclear power plant, and today we benefit from cheap electricity. Not to mention that it involves advanced technologies.”

Unlike many other countries, Belarusians are not threatened by negative ‘side effects’ associated with the diversity of energy sources. This is because we intelligently combine traditional and alternative energy directions, which is a correct and competent decision.

Advantages and disadvantages of wind power

• Wind is an inconsistent energy source 
• Visual and noise impact 
• Bird and bat collisions 
• Intrusion on the landscape 
• High initial costs 
• Problems with disposal of wind turbine components

• Renewable and sustainable resource 
• Environmentally friendly form of energy production 
• Low operating costs 
• Wind turbines do not require water 
• Energy independence

By Aleksandr Nesterov