Halkirk: Wind turbine debris has no clean-up date yet: company

The company responsible for a new wind farm in the Halkirk region stated debris which fell off a turbine has no date yet for clean-up.

Capital Power’s Halkirk 2 development was stood down in November 2024 after a nacelle and rotor fell to the ground Nov. 8 from the T33 turbine.

A resident of Paintearth County, where Halkirk 2 is located, contacted the ECA Review over New Years to state he noticed the debris hadn’t been cleaned up and that he also recently attended an invitation- only meeting where it was stated the damaged turbine blades would be disposed of in a local landfill.

Tricia Johnston, director, communications and community engagement for Capital Power, stated the company and its contractors are still working on the clean-up.

“With the incident investigation ongoing, the site cleanup has not been completed and we have yet to confirm the final cleanup procedure,” stated Johnston in a Jan. 7 email.

“We’re working with Vestas on outreach to recycling firms to confirm what components will be able to be recycled and we will finalize plans once these details are understood.

“We’ll be sure to update the community once our plans are finalized in one of our ongoing community updates.”

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), of which Capital Power is a member, has a factsheet available on the recycling of renewable energy components, citing that up to 90 per cent of a wind turbine’s total mass is recyclable; while it states material such as steel and copper have value in the recycling world, materials such as the nacelle and blades, which may include composite materials such as fibreglass, have less demand.

“Separating the fibres, epoxy, and other functional components used in the blades is not always an option, but there are several sustainable, end-of-life repurposing strategies for wind turbine blades made of composite materials,” stated the CanREA factsheet.

“…various recycling methods do exist currently, such as grinding pieces down to various sizes for use as filler material in construction materials. And in some cases, wind turbine blades have been re-used for a variety of structures such as car ports, pedestrian bridges and play structures.”

When discussing “Giving a site new life,” the factsheet mentions some international recycling efforts for composite material blades but does allude to the possible use of local landfills for at least some material.

“Turbines can be upgraded by replacing old components, such as wind turbine blades, generators and inverters, with more efficient or innovative equipment,”stated the factsheet.

“A site can also be given new life by decommissioning and returning the land to its original state.

“In both cases, the process involves extracting the recyclable materials, like steel, concrete and copper and properly disposing of any other components in compliance with local requirements.”

Paintearth Regional Waste Management’s website doesn’t specifically list “wind turbine blades” as an accepted material at the landfill; Paintearth mentions fibreglass in the list of accepted materials for disposal which notes “fibreglass insulation (in bags)” is accepted for disposal at the transfer station garbage bins.

CanREA stated on the factsheet that Canada’s renewable energy sector is relatively young, meaning the question of how to dispose of some of these materials hasn’t been asked often. “To date, there have been very few decommissioned or repowered wind and solar sites in Canada,” the factsheet added.

Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporteR
ECA Review

About the author

Stu Salkeld

Stu Salkeld, who has upwards of 28 years of experience in the Alberta community newspaper industry, is now covering councils and other news in the Stettler region and has experience working in the area as well.

He has joined the ECA Review as a Local Journalism Initiative Journalist.

Stu earned his two-year diploma in print journalism from SAIT in Calgary from 1993 to ’95 and was raised in Oyen, Alta., one of the communities within the ECA Review’s coverage area.