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OT: What does it cost to cut up and haul off a Vestas V-80 wind turbine blade?

Garwood

Diamond
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Location
Oregon
I was offered a 131' long 8.5' wide blade from a Vestas V-80 wind turbine. Basically 25,000 lbs of fiberglass fan blade. The blade is new with a small defect that prevented it's installation.

I am considering using the blade for a retaining wall on my property if I can sectionalize it economically. I would like to cut it into 10' pieces and set the pieces in the ground and fill with soil.

I'm curious what proper disposal for these blades costs as a reference.

What are my options for cutting the blades reasonably clean/straight?
 
This doesn't answer your question about the cost.

A diamond-wire saw (like used in quarries, but on a smaller scale) should work.

A Stihl 090 type saw with an adequately long bar would probably work with the right blade (diamond plated?). You would need to prevent blade pinching with wedges or such. I would want a stationary mount (that can't move unless I want it to) with a hinge to pivot the saw on so that I could safely use the back side of the blade to direct the dust away from the saw and me (and keep the saw cutting straight).
 
I have no idea but I have seen a table made from a 3' thick section of one (with a piece of glass on top) and thought it was pretty cool.
 
I haven't inspected in person yet so I can't describe the thickness/dimensions very well. I'm told it is atleast several feet thick for the majority of it length. I think the construction has a heavy square or rectangular box shape inside the lighter outer wing shape skin. I think the skin is an inch or so thick and the box is a couple inches.

Videos and pictures online show recycling companies using abrasive saws to cut the wings up, but that seems like a real mess.
 
Think you will find the wall tapers thickness wise along its length. That said, a simple carbide blade in a skill saw will make short work of the outside skin, reaching through from there is were it gets harder. Carbide will cut fibreglass and its not like you need a perfect cut either, may be cheaper to burn through a few cheap blades than go expensive. Expect to itch a lot though!

Disposal cost would be significant too, over here it would probaly have to end up as landfill, unless chopped up a incinerator will take it?
 
I was offered a 131' long 8.5' wide blade from a Vestas V-80 wind turbine. Basically 25,000 lbs of fiberglass fan blade. The blade is new with a small defect that prevented it's installation.

I am considering using the blade for a retaining wall on my property if I can sectionalize it economically. I would like to cut it into 10' pieces and set the pieces in the ground and fill with soil.

I'm curious what proper disposal for these blades costs as a reference.

What are my options for cutting the blades reasonably clean/straight?

"Offered?" Just say "No, thanks!".

ELSE start with moving April Fool's Day off 31 December and back to where it belongs.

Retaining Walls | The City of Portland, Oregon

Loudon County, VA we get only TWO feet before a permit is required for a retaining wall.

Good luck with getting an Inspector to sign-off on a re-purposed FAILED wind turbine blade cluster-f**k. Even on 1 April..
 
I like the way you think. People that are as cheap as I am are few and far between but it would take some balls to accept a piece of junk that big.
How about a bow type saw with the diamond wire blade powered by some reciprocating mechanism off a tractor pto.

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I was offered a 131' long 8.5' wide blade from a Vestas V-80 wind turbine. Basically 25,000 lbs of fiberglass fan blade. The blade is new with a small defect that prevented it's installation.

I am considering using the blade for a retaining wall on my property if I can sectionalize it economically. I would like to cut it into 10' pieces and set the pieces in the ground and fill with soil.

I'm curious what proper disposal for these blades costs as a reference.

What are my options for cutting the blades reasonably clean/straight?
 
Accept it as delivered. Tell them you will accept it in two or three pieces if cut relatively straight. Then you can rework it as desired on your own turf.
 
Proper PPE, a Quicky saw, and a garden hose....

(Yes, I know, same as yesterdays suggestion)
 
Bandsaws cut fiberglass very nicely and without a lot of mess. You could probably pick up a good used DoAll bandsaw and it would pay for itself in just this one job. I'd suggest looking for one with a 132' throat but in a pinch you could get by with a 66' throat then turn the part around halfway through the job as needed.
 
Disposal Cost

"I'm curious what proper disposal for these blades costs as a reference."

Composites such as this are not really recyclable, so for disposal it's going to go in a landfill. Cost for that varies by state, around here (Western PA) it's relatively cheap (lots of old strip mines that serve as a good starting point and relatively cheap land) you're looking at about $40/ton. Portland OR I'd bet considerably more, wild guess twice that. Obviously the cost is in cutting it up for transport and the landfill will determine the maximum size of the hunks they'd take. Transport is relatively cheap, say chunks in a roll-off box, probably $10-15/ton, especially if the landfill is owned by the hauler.

So all the cost is in cutting it up and loading the chunks, which I think you already realized. I'd be willing to bet this problem has been tackled before, perhaps call a blade manufacturing company and hope you can get to someone with a clue. Lots of interesting ideas above. I'd also bet there is nice business in there somewhere. Guessing the first generation turbines are being replaced now and those blades will have to go somewhere. Plus, what you describe as a bad blade that made it out of the factory.

Retaining wall? Wow, I like how you think. But the only cost you are avoiding is the relatively cheap disposal part, so seems like a stretch.

Good luck,

Jeff
 
Sounds like cutting up an old fiberglass boat.
Get a gas powered demo saw, a dozen or so abrasive masonry blades, hella good breathing protection and a big fan to blow the dust away from you and get after it.
 
For disposal I doubt is the blade is cut at all. A hydraulic excavator with a thumb could put that entire blade in one roll off in less than an hour, as well as separate out any significant steel parts.
 
I'm in the wind business. I have a 50kW turbine's 40ft long blade as a driveway marker at my farm. It is just thick fiberglass. I didn't saw, but I did drill some rigging holes. Drilled great with just bi-metal hole saw.

The big blades off of GE 1.6 MW machines are cut up with demo shears on a hydraulic excavator.

If a handheld gas concrete saw has enough cutting depth, that is how I would do it. Get the respirator and somebody to run a garden hose. Have at it. I bet you could easily do it with one $200 blade.

Trucking 131' of blade is probably going to be expensive. I recently was working on getting the tip 53' of a GE 1.6 MW turbine blade. 53' goes on any random (~$12k used) flat deck. 131' is going to require a blade transport trailer arrangement (~$250k used), over length permits, front and rear escorts, etc.
 
There is a wind farm near us that is currently upgrading the blades on their turbines. When I drove by last week, there were dozens of old blades laying on the ground. I imagine there will be hundreds whey they're done. Don't know what they plan to do with them, but I'm sure it would be much cheaper to haul them off when they've been cut down to a smaller size.
 
I'm in the wind business. I have a 50kW turbine's 40ft long blade as a driveway marker at my farm. It is just thick fiberglass. I didn't saw, but I did drill some rigging holes. Drilled great with just bi-metal hole saw.

The big blades off of GE 1.6 MW machines are cut up with demo shears on a hydraulic excavator.

If a handheld gas concrete saw has enough cutting depth, that is how I would do it. Get the respirator and somebody to run a garden hose. Have at it. I bet you could easily do it with one $200 blade.

Trucking 131' of blade is probably going to be expensive. I recently was working on getting the tip 53' of a GE 1.6 MW turbine blade. 53' goes on any random (~$12k used) flat deck. 131' is going to require a blade transport trailer arrangement (~$250k used), over length permits, front and rear escorts, etc.

Good Info. Hey I tried to private message you and your mailbox is FULL
 
...131' is going to require a blade transport trailer arrangement (~$250k used), over length permits, front and rear escorts, etc.

I ass u me'd that his intent - and reason for asking here - was to cut it into those 10-foot lengths BEFORE load-out and departing the site, so...

I don't have much of an opinion about the blade. Just that it makes a lousy fit to the needs of a retaining wall. "School trained" on that sort of s**t, and with OUR tax dollars, at that, so..
 








 
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