Abandoning renewable energy projects in Europe and South America: An emerging consideration in the recycling of energy landscapes

Landscape legacies of conventional energy development are vast. Mines, well fields, power plants, sub-stations, refineries, and disposal sites have been accumulating for more than a century. We know these energy landscapes exist, but we are uncertain what to do with them once their initial function is completed. Can they be used for any future purpose; that is, can they be “recycled”? As we gradually shift to renewable energy resources for all the benefits they promise, we are becoming aware that we will be facing similar end-of-life questions about the unique landscapes they are creating. What is their landscape legacy? This paper expands on growing attention to recycling conventional energy landscapes by introducing the circumstances regarding renewable energy landscapes. It addresses the first stages in consideration of these questions as they pertain to the abandonment of renewable energy infrastructures in Europe and South America. Based on reconstructive and comparative analysis of examples of abandoned wind farms, we found that there are barriers to formal decommissioning of these facilities, leaving recycling options as open questions. The main conclusion is that abandoned wind farms are consequences of gaps and weaknesses in the regulations on decommissioning of renewable energy infrastructures, in particular in case of installations abandoned before reaching their operational end-of-life. The need to improve those regulations will be crucial to ensure the restoration and recycling of renewable energy landscapes going forward.