- When renewable assets near the end of their operational life, project owners can decommission, repower, renew, operate to failure, or abandon on-site equipment.
- In a largely decarbonized future, large-scale solar could occupy 0.5% to 2.8% of land in the European Union, but multipurpose land use could potentially ease its footprint.
Despite this flexibility, University of Granada researchers analyzed the landscape legacy of abandoned wind and solar projects. The have determined that their physical footprint can alter land use and aesthetics over the long term.
Reviewing waste management and decommissioning research, they found growing interest in the field, but major gaps in how regulations address – or fail to address – these challenges.
“It is crucial that we know whether adequate regulations exist to address the lifespan of renewable energy infrastructure as we think about how to recycle the landscapes they occupied,” said the researchers in “Abandoning renewable energy projects in Europe and South America: An emerging consideration in the recycling of energy landscapes,” recently published in Energy for Sustainable Development. “So far, there are no reliable estimates of abandoned renewable installations in Europe and South America; however, due to the increasing intensity of renewable deployment, thousands of abandoned turbines and solar panels may soon accumulate around the world and generate new conflicts over land use.”
Abandoned wind and solar farms result from regulatory gaps in decommissioning policies, especially for projects left idle before reaching the end of their operational life, the researchers found. “The need to improve these regulations will be crucial to ensure the restoration and recycling of renewable energy landscapes in the future,” they explained.
The team examined cases where required decommissioning has not occurred, including wind farms in Keyenberg, Germany, and Jepírachi, Colombia, and the Núñez de Balboa solar plant in Spain.
The authorities in Keyenberg halted the wind farm’s dismantling to allow for an open-cast mine after activists argued it undermined climate goals. In Jepírachi, the company awaits an environmental authority’s formal order to begin dismantling. In Núñez de Balboa, a court ruled the developer must return 500 hectares of expropriated land but is not required to restore the landscape. The solar plant remains operational as the developer appeals.
Abandoned projects
The study analyzed nine renewable projects – eight wind and one solar – across Italy, Spain, Venezuela, and Argentina.
Three plants were abandoned before operation, while six were left during operation. Of those, three were deactivated, and three still feed electricity into the grid. Researchers identified poor planning, mismanagement, economic and technological issues, and competing interests as key reasons for abandonment.
Authorities blocked Spain’s Vinapoló solar park from injecting power because it exceeded the agreed capacity. The owners are negotiating its sale, but neither the City Council nor the Consell has ordered its dismantling since 2011.
Italy’s Butera wind farm was abandoned due to the city council’s failure to expropriate land for substations. Venezuela’s La Guajira wind farm, budgeted at $225 million, began construction in 2011 but was never completed.
Insufficient coordination and planning prevented the project from connecting to the grid, leaving its interconnection infrastructure and substations unfinished. In 2018, the then-minister of electric energy attempted to restart construction but found that vandals had destroyed 80% of the wind farm’s “strategic material.” Looters dismantled the rotors, stripped the turbines, and sold two fallen machines as scrap.
Three other wind farms – Montaña Mina, Monte Arci, and Jorge Romanutti – were abandoned during operation.
Montaña Mina in San Bartolomé (Canary Islands) began operating in 1992 but was abandoned in 2014 after its managing company went bankrupt. By 2017, it was inoperative, with obsolete and damaged turbines. Local authorities blocked a 2018 repowering attempt, arguing the site should be restored to its natural state. Despite three requests for dismantling, work has stalled due to high costs and disputes over responsibility.
Italy’s Monte Arci wind farm, with 34 turbines, opened in 2000 but operated for only a few months before being decommissioned. The turbines quickly became obsolete and were left to decay. Authorities sent multiple warnings and an eviction order, but only partial cleanup began in 2010. After more than two decades, dismantling finally started in 2020, though access roads still cut through the Natural Park, and soil contamination remains unverified.
Lack of regulation
Wind farm decommissioning in Europe lags expectations, largely due to weak laws holding owners, companies, and developers accountable. Complete removal depends on legal agreements that are often missing.
The researchers found that none of the affected countries had regulations at the time of project approval requiring full environmental and waste management restoration after abandonment or the end of operational life.
France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy have since introduced decommissioning rules, including financial guarantees, but they do not specify liability if a wind farm shuts down before its technical lifespan ends. Denmark is the only country mandating that decommissioning must begin within a year of shutdown.
The scientists called for stronger measures to ensure full site restoration after decommissioning.
“In this regard, we recommend that policy and decision makers consider adopting regulatory frameworks similar to those in countries such as Denmark, where decommissioning planning is mandatory even before projects reach the end of their technical operational phase,” they concluded. “Since every project subject to environmental assessment must include a decommissioning phase, the issue is not the lack of importance of this phase, but rather that current regulations do not require this phase to be implemented. It is therefore crucial that policies emphasize the establishment of regulations and guarantees that cover the entire life cycle of projects to ensure their true sustainability.
Author: Pilar Sánchez Molina
This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.
