Orsted
ESRS disclosure: ESRS E5 \ DR E5-2 \ Paragraph 20d
Tags Tree
- Provide a detailed account of how your organization applies circular design principles, specifically focusing on actions and resources that enhance product durability and optimize usage. Include information on how these efforts contribute to increased rates of reuse, repair, refurbishing, remanufacture, repurposing, and recycling.
-
Question Id: E5-2_03
In alignment with our resource management policy objective, we continuously work to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources for our assets. As we have a large portfolio of offshore wind farms in operation, our ability to increase the reuse and refurbishment of spare parts during the lifetime of the assets can both lower our use of virgin materials, extend the lifetime of the assets, and reduce our operational costs. In 2024, we have progressed on this action by ordering more than 300 refurbished yaw brake calipers on our East and West Coast hubs in the UK. Calipers are used to hold the nacelle in place when the brakes are applied and are a part of the hydraulic system. For each caliper we reuse, we also lower the cost of our wind farm maintenance. In addition, we have set up refurbishment loops for several other minor components with a long leadtime to reduce the risk of lost production. By 2030, we intend to establish fully commercial, technically approved refurbishment loops for more than 100 of our key minor components, reducing our overall need for virgin materials during the operational phase of our renewable assets. This is further a mitigation measure towards our identified risk related to the global increase in demand for various scarce critical materials.
Report Date: 4Q2024Relevance: 90%
- Provide a detailed description of the application of circular business practices within your organization. Specifically, outline any actions and resources dedicated to the following areas: (i) value retention actions, including maintenance, repair, refurbishing, remanufacturing, component harvesting, upgrading, reverse logistics, closed loop systems, and second-hand retailing; (ii) value maximisation actions, such as product-service systems and collaborative and sharing economy business models; (iii) end-of-life actions, including recycling, upcycling, and extended producer responsibility; and (iv) systems efficiency actions, such as industrial symbiosis. Ensure that your response aligns with the requirements set forth in Disclosure Requirement E5-2 and ESRS 2 MDR-A.
-
Question Id: E5-2_04
In 2024, we completed the decommissioning of our onshore wind farm Owenreagh 1 in Northern Ireland, which had been in operation since 1997 and consisted of 10 wind turbines with a total capacity of 5 MW. We did so in collaboration with Plaswire, with whom we entered into a partnership in 2023. Plaswire enables the recycling of wind blades, as they specialise in the shredding, granulating, and re-moulding required to turn the blade material into, for example, durable polymer. Durable polymer is typically used in the construction industry, and as a result, some of the retired blades may end up being used to produce road marking poles for some of our new onshore wind farms in Ireland, replacing the use of virgin plastics in our own projects. Similarly, we work with the US solar recycling company SOLARCYCLE on the treatment of defective and retired solar panels. With the installation of various solar assets in the US in 2024, we have, where necessary, sent damaged panels to SOLARCYCLE for recycling, demonstrating our ambition to recycle retired solar panels. Our collaborations with Plaswire and SOLARCYCLE are examples of how we engage with partners on our material resource-related impacts. Over the past few years, we have successfully carried out several small-scale recycling pilots in the US and the UK and will continue to leverage retired blades and panels from our assets to help accelerate the maturation of promising, innovative, recycling technologies and solutions in our markets going forward.
Report Date: 4Q2024Relevance: 60%