Event Description With the widespread deployment of wind energy technology in the past 15 years, comes a new conundrum: how to find sustainable end-of-life solutions for wind turbine blades when wind farms are decommissioned. This presentation looks at the Re-Wind Project, the objective of which is to develop sustainable end–of–life re-purposing and recycling strategies for composite material wind turbine blades. One such project is the re-purposing of decommissioned wind turbine blades to construct a pedestrian bridge as part of the Midleton to Youghal Greenway under development by Cork County Council. Extensive blade testing and structural design has been carried out at Munster Technological University, Queens University Belfast and Georgia Tech, coupled with geographical analysis at Queens University Belfast and integrated social, environmental and economic analyses at University College Cork. About our presenters Paul Leahy is Lecturer in Wind Energy in the School of Engineering & Architecture, UCC and Funded Investigator in the SFI MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine Research. His research is focused on wind energy, energy storage and environmental sustainability. He is a co-PI of the Re-Wind project, collaborating with colleagues in Sociology and the Cleaner Production Promotion Unit on environmental, social and business integration of wind turbine blade re-purposing solutions. Kieran Ruane is a lecturer in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Munster Technological University (MTU). He is a Chartered Engineer with 27 years’ experience in the design and delivery of award-winning civil and structural engineering works and is President of the Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland (2021-2022). Kieran is part of the Re-Wind network with a particular focus on the structural behaviour of re-purposed wind turbine blades. Related Documents Re-Wind Project (flyer).pdf