We have documented the threats of industrial wind turbines to both soil and water in their pre and post-construction phases, not to mention birds, bats, insects, and humans. But not enough has been said about the serious environmental threat of “blade shedding.” This is erosion that occurs primarily on the edge of turbine blades as they are exposed to the elements. And it is far from benign:
Microplastic shedding from turbine blades, known as Leading Edge Erosion, is a great concern to manufacturers who are forced to repair the damage that occurs after only a couple of years. The particles eroded from blades include epoxy which is 40% Bisphenol-A (BPA), a frequently banned endocrine disruptor and neurotoxin. Academic research has shown the potential for 137 pounds of epoxy microparticles to be shed per turbine per year.
Mark Twichell, Citizens Against Wind Turbines In Lake Erie, March 21, 2023, The Buffalo News
Bisphenol-A or BPA is among the most toxic of man-made substances. Manufacturers of everything from juice jugs to appliances are making a point of claiming that their products are “BPA free.” Not so with industrial wind turbines, whose blades contain BPA in their resin coating.1
(Image from Telene.com, manufacturer of blade coatings)
Mitchell is referring to a paper out of Norway, “Leading Edge erosion and pollution from wind turbine blades” (Solberg et. al.) that examined the data of a U.K. study on rain erosion by Pugh et. al..2 The Norweigan authors assert that, “With large emissions of toxic compounds from the wind turbine industry, this industry will be exposed. Wind turbines can have major ecological, health and economic consequences. We do not know any wind turbine facilities having applied for or received emission permits.” That’s likely the case nearly everywhere in the world as this issue of BPA shedding has hardly been addressed by local regulatory bodies, if at all.
While the Norweigan analysis calculates 62 kg (137 lbs) of material loss from each turbine annually, perhaps not unsurprisingly, the wind industry there comes in at 41,000% less in their estimates: 150 grams per blade. In Solberg’s paper, however, they calculated that 20 turbines (130m rotor diameter) could release up to 24.8 tons of material over the course of their lifetime (approximately 20 years).
The wind power industry has chosen to neglect and under-communicate this in much the same way as the tobacco industry dealt with health effects.
Pollution from wind turbine blades, Solberg et. al., pg. 6
That said, it doesn’t take much BPA to have a highly toxic impact. Turbines spin at high speeds up to 300km/h at the tip of the blade.3 This, then, is where the greatest shedding of material occurs, releasing BPA into the air, soil, and possible nearby waterways. Given that turbines are placed in generally high wind locations, and are generating strong wind themselves to the point that they can create drought conditions,4 these toxic microparticles can potentially travel long distances. And it only takes a fraction of a gram for this substance to poison a single litre of water:
1 kg of BPA is enough to pollute 10 billion litres of water. That’s 10,000,000,000 litres. Since 2017, the WHO has advised that drinking water should have a maximum of 0.1 micrograms of BPA per litre. That is the same as 0.0000001 grams per litre of water.
Asbjørn Solberg, Bård-Einar Rimereit and Jan Erik Weinbach, 08/07/2021, “Leading Edge erosion and pollution from wind turbine blades,” p. 15
Material loss on blades is attributed primarily to dust, salt particles, hail, and rain (known as the “Water Hammer pressure effect”). When you add the additional impacts of ice or hail, the loss on blades is magnitudes higher and “can be detrimental to its structural integrity,” said Kugh et. al in a study on turbine rainfall impacts. The implications are significant for wind turbines in Canada where hail storms are a normal feature of Canadian summers. In a study examining ballistic ice impacts on turbine blades, it was shown that “the impact would delaminate and crack the composite material,” ultimately hastening the loss of blade resin.5
Moreover, in Solberg’s study, they note that the loss of material increases “exponentially” the larger the turbine blades. This is alarming, given that off-shore-sized turbines are now being built on land next to people’s homes and farms. For instance, the turbines proposed among the acreages and farms of the Northern Valley near Elk Point in Alberta, Canada are 679 ft (207m) tall, from base to blade tip. As the wind industry graph below shows, this is clearly entering new territory (ie. experimentation on humans by the wind industry). And yet, the impacts on humans, from blade shedding to infrasound, are barely acknowledged much less properly studied.
The Trojan Horse Effect
The European Union is beginning to recognize the threat of BPA entering our ecosystems and eventually our bodies, as noted by the Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA).
…the EU is preparing new, stricter regulation… What is particularly disturbing is the fact that a lot of bisphenols and other toxins are released from the particles when they enter the intestinal system, which often has an acidic environment with low PH. They are also released with increasing temperatures and go up in the food chains where they are concentrated more and more. In the end, a lot of the toxins we release will end up on our own dinner table and drinking water. This is the “Trojan horse effect”.
Bergensia, “Bisphenol A in wind turbines damages human fertility”, The Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), March 22, 2021
NEPA adds that “Substances such as Bisphenol A and similar substances do very great damage to the reproduction of most organisms and in us humans.” They highlight a “very disturbing study” that shows that Bisphenol-A causes genetic damage for several generations in rainbow trout. “We also risk irreparable damage to the entire environment both on land and at sea if we do not limit or stop the use of such substances, and especially the deployment of new wind power plants in increasingly demanding environments or at sea.”
In an article to Iowa Climate Science Education, Dr. Eric Blondeel warns, “It should be known that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals has been linked to about 80 diseases. These include testicular cancer, obesity and reproductive disorders.”
“The resulting annual BPA release can potentially contaminate 17 million gallons of drinking water per turbine while threatening aquatic and terrestrial life”, says Mitchell. Given that turbines are increasingly being erected among rural communities, this should be considered an environmental disaster in the making.
Add to the above what happens when a wind turbine collapses, implodes, or burns up — events which are occurring with greater frequency around the globe. But little is said about the aftermath of toxicity that is left behind. Not to mention that, when turbine blades reach their end of life, they are usually buried in landfills where BPA can leech into groundwater.
BPA in blades is just one more of a very, very long list of reasons why industrial wind farms are not saving the planet but destroying it.
- “Leading Edge erosion and pollution from wind turbine blades” (Solberg et. al.) [↩]
- “Rain Erosion Maps for Wind Turbines Based on Geographical Locations: A Case Study in Ireland and Britain”, January 22, 2021[↩]
- Leading Edge erosion and pollution from wind turbine blades” (Solberg et. al.) [↩]
- cf. https://www.windconcerns.com/winds-assault-on-our-water/[↩]
- Keegan MH, Nash D, Stack M. Wind Turbine Blade Leading Edge Erosion: An investigation of rain droplet and hailstone impact induced damage mechanisms (Doctoral dissertation, University of Strathclyde) [↩]
Mark Mallett is a former award-winning reporter with CTV Edmonton and an independent researcher and author. His family homesteaded between Vermilion and Cold Lake, Alberta, and now resides in the Lakeland region. Mark is Editor in Chief of Wind Concerns.
Another excellent article from Mark Mallett! Thank you from Scandinavia. This Summer I had an article in a small newspaper about this problem: BPA in wind turbine blades. I got an email from the Environmental Agency directly under the government stating that yes, there is BPA in these blades, but it is ‘very water soluble’.
I knew that they were lying, and I quickly found info that said that it is not water soluble.
they are trying to put in hundreds of these “green energy “ wind mills off our coast of Morro bay in California. we are trying to stop the process but our Governor has made this his pet project so he has passed a mandate to get it done. we need help! please do an article with us in mind! help us please!
I am so sorry to hear this, Michael. So many of these politicians are following an ideology — not reason, not common sense, not economic sense. They are forging ahead with a global agenda that appears content to destroy creation, ruin economies, destabilize the energy grid, and deprive developing nations of cheap energy. Truly, it’s diabolical. Fight this in your community with truth. Get the facts out to people and work with your local politicians to educate them and pressure them, respectfully, to do their job to listen to the people who pay their salaries.
“The next generation of wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears at the end of their service, scientists have said. Researchers at Michigan State University have made a composite resin for the blades by combining glass fibres with a plant-derived polymer and a synthetic one.Aug 23, 2022”
Wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears …
There is an article in the Guardian about this, but it’s behind a paywall.
Wind turbine blades, that contain up to 40% toxic BPA? Sounds like a great idea.
Our only hope is if President elect Trump keeps his promise and stops all windmills development. They are the most expensive, dangerous to the environment, and unreliable source of energy out there.