Circularity in the wind industry: from theory to business strategy
June 11, 2025
- The facility will enable the recycling of components for renewable energy installations, one of the biggest medium and long-term challenges facing the sector.
- With an investment of around 10 million euros, the plant will provide 100 direct and indirect jobs over the next decade.
María Chivite, President of the Government of Navarre, the CEO of Iberdrola Spain, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, the CEO of FCC Enviro, Iñigo Sanz, and Mikel Irujo, Regional Minister of Industry and of Ecological and Digital Business Transition of the Government of Navarre, inaugurated this morning in the town of Cortes (Navarre) the EnergyLOOP plant, the first specifically dedicated to the recycling of wind turbine blades on the Iberian Peninsula, which will enable the recycling of components for renewable facilities, one of the biggest medium- and long-term challenges in the sector. This plant is designed for a treatment capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes per year.
The aim of the facility is to recover the components of wind turbine blades – mostly glass fibres and resins – and their reuse in sectors such as energy, aerospace, automotive, textile, chemical and construction, contributing to the energy transition and boosting the circular economy in Spain.
The plant, which has received an investment of around 10 million euros, will also contribute to the creation of an innovative and dynamic value chain. EnergyLOOP currently expects to employ 100 direct and indirect employees over the decade. In this way, EnergyLOOP promotes the creation of quality green jobs by investing in local talent.
María Chivite, President of Navarre, indicated that “the green transition, competitiveness, circularity and innovation are pillars of the productive model that we are promoting from the government. And this project connects perfectly with it. EnergyLOOP is not only a cutting-edge project but also an example of how to combine an innovative and circular industrial model with a green energy model. Technology at the service of a sustainable planet. Moreover, as you also know, this government is making an effort to decentralise industrial activity. For this reason, I would also like to highlight the fact that Cortes, in the Ribera de Navarra region, is the place chosen for a cutting-edge industry”.
Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola Spain, indicated that “We are inaugurating much more than an industrial plant. We are inaugurating a new stage in the circular economy of renewable energies. This factory, the first on the peninsula dedicated to the recycling of wind turbine blades, is a concrete response to a challenge that is already here. New technologies allow for a sustainable energy transition and generate employment in rural areas, and the necessary repowering will be a new engine for this circular cycle”.
For Iñigo Sanz, CEO of FCC Enviro, “the inauguration of this EnergyLOOP plant, after several years of joint research and innovation by FCC and Iberdrola, marks a milestone on the road to a more responsible and circular future. This plant marks the beginning of a new era, where innovation and respect for the planet go hand in hand, and at FCC we will continue to move forward, facing new challenges and exploring new applications for recovered materials”. He also highlighted ‘the need to support the repowering of photovoltaic installations from the European Union and from public institutions, as well as prescribing the use of materials obtained from the recycling of blades, to ensure the development of projects like EnergyLOOP, key to the Circular Economy.’
The project has the support of the Government of Navarra, as it is a strategic activity that positions the region at the forefront of the renewable energy sector by introducing the components of technological innovation and circularity and being aligned with regional smart specialisation, which is why it considered the project of Foral Interest in 2023 and strongly supported its development.
It also has a subsidy from the IDAE, through the PERTE grants for Circular Repowering, which in its Programme 3 included the development of recycling plants such as EnergyLOOP, a project that has always benefited from the invaluable support of SODENA, a public company, which has shown a strong commitment to the project.
Circular economy
The Spanish wind industry – as a world leader with more than 28 GW of installed capacity – will face the need to recycle or reuse significant quantities of wind turbines before other countries. The first blade recycling to be managed by the plant will be from Iberdrola’s Isabela and Molar de Molinar wind farms, the first of the energy company’s wind farms to be repowered.
It is estimated that around 5,700 wind turbines per year will be dismantled in Europe by 2030, from the repowering of wind farms or facilities reaching the end of their useful life.
In this context, EnergyLOOP will contribute to the transformation of the wind energy sector into a true circular economy by investing in integrated blade recycling solutions.
This initiative will also improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector thanks to the research and implementation of new recycling technologies, which will make it possible to absorb the growing quantities of waste and adopt increasingly efficient solutions.
The project will act in the different stages that enable the circularity of wind turbine blades, including on-site pre-treatment and conditioning, waste transport logistics, recycling technologies and the marketing of recycled products.
EnergyLOOP is the company promoted by Iberdrola, through its PERSEO programme, and by FCC Ámbito, a subsidiary of FCC Enviro, for the recovery of wind turbine blade components and their reuse in sectors such as the energy, aerospace, automotive, textile, chemical and construction industries.
