Episode 20: Making Renewables Circular – Recycling green energy hardware in Germany

Germany is setting record upon record for renewable electricity, but the hardware used to generate that energy is not built for the ages. What to do with all the outdated and decommissioned equipment? We talk to an innovative French company that’s brought its solutions to Germany and to a German industry association that aims to convert the wind energy sector into a circular economy.

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Our Guests

Markus Krausewitz | © Markus Krausewitz

Markus Krausewitz is the German site and ramp up manager for ROSI, a French company specialized in the recycling of PV modules. ROSI – an acronym for Return on Silicon – is currently building its first German plant in the eastern regional state of Saxony.

 

Annette Nüsslein | © Annette Nüsslein

Annette Nüsslein is founding and board member of RDRWind, a German association dealing with repowering, dismantling and recycling wind turbines. It was established in 2018 to develop standards and norms for the recycling process.
 

Transcript of this episode

Quote from Robert Habeck, German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action,  January 2024

„Gleich zu Beginn des Jahres gibt es eine starke Nachricht aus der Energiepolitik. … Der Anteil der erneuerbaren Energien am deutschen Strommix, er war noch nie so hoch.“

“This is a year of great energy news. The proportion of renewables in Germany’s energy mix has never been higher.”

Presenter:

That was Robert Habeck, Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, talking about 2023. And 2024 has started off even better for Habeck and everyone concerned with the transition to clean energy in Europe’s largest economy. In the first quarter of this year, Germany covered nearly 60 percent of its energy needs with renewables. That’s a new record and it surely won’t be the last one. Germany is now on track to achieve its goal of climate-neutrality by 2045. 

The change is being driven by increased capacities in wind and photovoltaics. But every solution brings new challenges. Germany is currently facing the question of what to do with older wind turbines and solar power units. Can they be effectively recycled?

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

The next generation of wind turbines will be more circular, will be more efficient, more powerful, but also more circular.

That’s the issue we’ll address on this edition of INTO Germany, the German business podcast, brought to you by Germany Trade and Invest, the country’s international business promotion agency. I’m your host Kelly O’Brien. 

As we heard, Germany is forging full steam ahead with the expansion of wind and solar power. The government’s so-called „Solar Package I“, adopted in April, foresees the amount of installed solar capacity tripling by 2026. And the "Wind on Land Strategy“ aims to add 10 GW of wind power capacity every year until 2030. At the same time, the first generations of wind turbines and photovoltaic units are reaching the end of their useful lives. That’s a large amount of hardware to be recycled – with a lot more to be added in future.

This is where French company Rosi comes in. They’ve just taken their first step abroad and expanded to Germany. Markus Krausewitz, Rosi’s site and ramp up manager, joins us now to talk about Germany’s renewable energy sector and what business opportunities it offers for international companies. Markus, thanks for joining us. So tell us: What’s the idea behind Rosi?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

Rosi is a company focused on the recycling of PV modules. PV in general, I would say, not only PV modules itself. We are also focused on the scraps, meaning parts that accumulate during manufacturing and production – any output. And we would like to close the cycle to make PV green again: bring all high purity materials out of the modules and bring them into the circular business. After 25 years, the degeneration or the environment is bringing the module to the lifetime end. But in parallel, there are a lot of actions and trends available. For example, one is repowering. So if we're talking about 25 years, the technology jump and the innovation on the module level was huge. So often the modules became replaced by higher capacity or by better and newer innovations. In the past years, the focus mainly was on creating new installations of PV, having more fancy and more innovative ideas of PV, but not bringing the materials back into the circle. And the focus of Rosi is: looking for silicon. We have no natural resources in Europe at the moment. And we would like to step into a bright green future with a lot of capacities becoming installed over the next time. But without silicon, without silver, without all the high pure and high value materials, it is not possible. So the idea was to use the existing materials that are always available on the market, at their end of lifetime and bring the materials in a very high purity back to the circle. It is otherwise, from our point of view, not possible to fulfill the expectations of the new capacities. 

Presenter:

Rosi is an acronym for „return of silicon“. Bringing silicon back into the circle. What is currently happening with those „high value materials“ you were talking about? 

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

So we have quite a conservative structure of recycling. Recycling is still kind of a not so fancy and sexy business at the moment. But looking into the PV recycling or silicon recycling at all, we have a conservative status meaning most of them are shredded at the moment. Means, the module, end of lifetime, will become destroyed, shredded and then brought back again into the float glass industry, but not combined with getting out high value materials like silver, silicon, copper, etc. Unfortunately.

Presenter:

Are there any special regulations when it comes to recycling in Germany? If I have old PV modules on my roof that need to be replaced – what do I do with them?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

So it's really different over the countries in Europe. But speaking about Germany, it’s a cycle with more or less three major players in the game. It's PV Cycle, Take-e-away and also Deutsche Recycling. And in this context, the big power plant owners and also the owners of PV installations are able to call them and those eco-organizations then take care of the modules, of the whole recycling program. And these organizations are collaborating with us as a recycler to get – a wrong word – but to get rid of the modules. In Germany, it’s all related to this permission and this authorities-driven process around the “Elektroaltgerätegesetz“. That’s a very famous German word. All the things are regulated under this certificate and permission and these eco-organizations are taking care of the modules.

Presenter:

The “Elektroaltgerätegesetz” is the German law governing how appliances and hardware are to be disposed of. So the recycling process exists, but in terms of sustainability there’s still room for improvement. That’s the niche Rosi aims to fill with its innovative approach. The company emerged from a project at the University of Grenoble and opened its first plant nearby.

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

Rosi started 2017 at the university with a very small team. Now, over time, we grew up to 45, so it's changing day by day. We are a very young growing team. And we founded or have set up our first plant near Grenoble. That's in the Alps at roughly 1000 meters sea level. That was our first plant with existing processes in place, with existing equipment in place, with existing offtakers. We are quite happy about the fact that we can handle a capacity of 3000 tonnes per year.

Presenter:

That’s around 150 THOUSAND standard solar modules. Quite a lot, but – given the rapid expansion across Europe – probably only a fraction of the total number of modules that need to be recycled?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

Definitely. It’s more like a tsunami in front of us. If you have a look on Europe, for example: In the year 2035, more or less 500,000 tons are existing to become recycled. So if we are then looking at these numbers and then only on Germany: Out of these 500,000 tons, 50% are located in Germany. If you drive through the country, I would say, each 200 meters, in average, you will see PV installations. On the roof, on free spaces, on the ceiling, building integrated. So it's a lot.

Presenter:

At the start of this podcast, we heard Germany’s economics minister and vice chancellor Robert Habeck about the progress being made on the German energy transformation. So, it’s no surprise you picked Germany as one of the first countries for your international expansion. 

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

The goal of expanding into Germany also comes from the value stream idea of having our processing close to the installed power plants. We need to minimize logistics. We need to minimize all the travel and logistics by truck or by suppliers. So it's by nature that we need to come to Germany.

Presenter:

You have decided to build your next plant in the eastern regional state of Saxony, or more precisely, the small community of Elsnig near Torgau. It converted a former military site into an industrial estate after German reunification. Our loyal listeners will have heard of it. We recently dedicated a whole episode to the booming eastern part of Germany and its „third wave“ of business investments. Episode 18, for those who want to check it out. So, Markus, tell us: Why DID you decided to settle in Eastern Germany?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

Due to its past and the density of the population, the eastern part is quite open and we find the large installations and the infrastructure that we need for such a plan. So there are a lot of big power plants, installed power plants – older ones, but also new ones – that are available in the eastern part of Germany. Especially in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the owners have a lot of space. And also infrastructure  is an important factor in the choice of the location. In North Saxony, we have from the very beginning enjoyed a great support from the region's economic development agency, the district administrator – so the Landrat – and also the authorities. We had the authorities from the beginning at the table. And this in total makes it easier and more pleasant for us to do business here. We have expansion space. We have the right people there. 

And last but not least, we are talking about Saxony and the region of North Saxony in particular has a very long knowledge in glass industry. If you look from a helicopter perspective, there are a lot of processing and manufacturing companies located. And on the other hand, Saxony is very well known for semiconductor production. Needs silicon! And out of this silicon circle, not only from the PV industry, but also from the semiconductor industry, we are able to close this circle. So for many of our materials the circle is right in front of our door in Saxony and in the eastern part. It’s a mixture. It's infrastructure and it’s support. Especially in Germany where the permitting and certification process is not easy. The support from the Wirtschaftsförderung, from the economic support agency is very high. And that was our point for deciding: Okay, that's our place.

Presenter: 

How did the Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft or investment promotion agency Germany Trade and Invest help you set up your German subsidiary?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

The Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft is supporting startups and companies in each direction they need to have support. To find the right persons, contacts, the right formulas. Also, supporting and finding the right spots, supporting in all directions to become part of the regional network. This support helped us a lot.

Presenter:

Sounds like you had quite a smooth start in Germany?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

What makes the start in Germany easy: If you have this support, you don’t have it just once. The organizations are supporting you until the very end, until you have reached all the things. What makes it easy for us in the region is being part of the network. We have a lot of glass industry. So the exchange and also the cooperation and the support if we had questions was very easy. It was not very shaky, as one is used to from startups. It was easier than expected to have this information transfer from France to Germany, from Germany as lessons learned to France, back and forth. 

Presenter:

These days, lots of commercial and public buildings and private households have PV modules installed. Are there any partners you’re particularly interested in working with?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

Industrial partners at all. So for high value offtaking. Industrial partners as well to supply high quality automation, process simulation, digitalization, digital technologies, to continuously optimize our process. Of course also recycling companies with existing logistics and storage available and for sure actors that wish to source their old PV modules or broken PV modules. Manufacturers, eco organizations, developers and as you and me, private owners as well.

Presenter:

Sounds like we'll be hearing a lot more from you! Before we end, tell us: Why would you encourage other companies, especially from the green energy sector, to expand to Germany?

Markus Krausewitz, German country and ramp up manager, ROSI

I think, Germany is often seen – especially in the last few months and years – as a complex and difficult country for foreign investments or for new industrial startups. But with all the support and with the given infrastructure and also the motivated people we got in touch, Germany is really, especially also the eastern part, a really good place to be. Looking then at the future of the PV or the green energy business, there are a lot of innovations coming out of Germany that will become scaled in the next time. To combine PV with other green technologies. I would recommend each company: Look into the mid- and long-term possibilities in Germany and also look at the very high level of education and motivated people available. And that is core, especially for us as a startup. The people working in this company are making the difference. It's not always the technology. And this – with all the support, with all the knowledge, with all the security for people – Germany is a good place for industry.

Presenter:

That was Markus Krausewitz from PV recycling company Rosi. Thanks Markus, all the best!

Sun is one crucial energy source on the way to carbon neutrality. The other one is wind: With a yield of 142.1 billion kWh, wind energy made the largest contribution to Germany’s electricity generation from renewable energies. And, same problem: Those installations need to be recycled in due time. We’ve invited an expert to talk about this in detail, but first: It’s time for our monthly news wrap up:

NEWS

Cloud on the Horizon

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a massive computing investment in the regional German state of Brandenburg near the capital Berlin. AWS plans to spend up to EUR 7.8 billion between now and 2040 to create a so-called sovereign computing cloud that will meet the strict data-protection standards in Europe. The AWS project makes the eastern state of Brandenburg and the capital region a second German cloud computing hub along with the country’s financial center Frankfurt. Amazon says that this business investment will add EUR 17.2 billion to German GDP by the end of the coming decade.

FDI at a High

Germany attracted EUR 34.8 billion worth of international business projects in 2023 –  that’s the result of Germany Trade & Invest’s annual study of foreign direct investment, or FDI. The figure includes both greenfields and expansions but does not include any mergers or acquisitions. The comparable figure for 2022 was EUR 25.3 billion – meaning that 2023 brought an annual increase in volume of 37.5 percent.  For comparison, according to data from FDI Markets, foreign direct investment was up 2.6 percent worldwide. In Europe FDI decreased by 7.4 percent, and in Western Europe by 8.8 percent.

Rocketing Revenues

For the first time, aerospace firm OHB, which is headquartered in the northern German city of Bremen, has done ten-figures in business. OHB’s turnover was EUR 1,047,800,000 last year compared with 944.5 million in 2022. OHB is family-owned and has been called “the German Space-X.” Its main activity is the construction of satellites. For instance, it built the telecommunications satellite “Heinrich Hertz” taken into space in 2023 by the final Ariane 5 rocket.

Energy Super Highway

Work has commenced in northern Germany on NeuConnect, a massive power line that will link the grids in Europe’s two largest energy markets, Germany and the UK. The project will cost EUR 2.8 billion and will allow 1.4 GW of electricity to flow in both directions. Major construction in Britain started last summer with the first phase completed in late 2023. When finished NeuConnect will be one of the world’s largest interconnectors, encompassing some 725 kilometers of land and subsea cables. NeuConnect is scheduled to begin operations by 2028.

And finally, MORE Renewables Records

A best-ever 22.1 TWh of sustainably generated electricity were fed into the system in Germany from April 1 to April 29. That was according to calculations by utility company E.on. The amount of electricity would be sufficient to supply 8.8 million households for an entire year. The previous monthly record, set in 2022, was around 21 TWh. E.on said that the main reason for the new high was wind power, which was responsible for around 11.4 TWh of electricity. 

Presenter:

So as we just heard, wind is a big factor in the renewables records being set this year. In 2023, Germany had around 29,000 onshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 61,010 MW. Offshore, there are another 1,566 plants. So how can we establish a sustainable cycle in the wind energy sector? That was the initial question for the RDR Wind association. Since its formation in 2018, it has dealt with repowering, dismantling and recycling wind turbines. Let’s talk now to founding and board member Annette Nüsslein. Annette, an industry association exclusively dealing with decommissioned wind turbines – I haven’t heard of that before!

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

We are quite unique. There aren't any other organizations here in Germany with a similar strong focus on repowering, dismantling and recycling of old wind turbines or the circular economy in the wind industry. Our strength lies in the multiple synergies between companies from the wind industry, waste management industry, the recycling sector and logistics. And I don't want to forget all the institutes and universities which are also on board, in other countries in Europe. Europe is a very strong voice for decommissioning and recycling of wind turbines. And also other wind power associations in Europe are more and more engaged in this area.

Presenter:

Annette, take us back to 2018, the year RDR Wind was founded. What was the aim behind the association’s creation?

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

The association was established in 2018, in December. We emerged from a research project on the subject of dismantling of large projects. We have currently our 65 members and member organizations. Our member organizations are engaged on a regional or state level or a national level. I think it's quite clear that we want to be a green industry and we need the circular economy to push lifecycle management forward and to become a real green industry. And by professionalization and standardization we intend to make all relevant processes more transparent and safer for the turbine asset operators and relevant and involved companies which are engaged in repowering, decommissioning and recycling. And if the data available regarding wind turbines is improved, this will facilitate reuse, recycling of wind turbines and the circular economy has a real chance in the wind industry.

Presenter:

In Germany, wind turbines are subsidized under the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the EEG. However, this subsidy expires if they are too old or no longer meet the technical standards. How many wind turbines are affected by this?

Anette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

Wind Europe expects more than 13 GW of existing wind capacity to be decommissioned between 2023 and 2030, while the expectation for the repowered capacity over the same period, 2023 to 2030, is limited to 9 GW. We have up to 7600 old wind turbines here in Germany. And we found out that – in order to push the repowering forward – it’s better to install more efficient and more powerful wind turbines. We need more power for the energy transition. And if we recycle the old wind turbines, or if there's any chance to reuse parts of the old turbines – this is helpful. We have here in Germany a B2B portal for example. Meaning: If you have an old wind turbine, if you are looking for parts – perhaps the manufacturer does not longer exist – you still have a chance to integrate old parts in your own wind turbine.

Presenter:

There are a lot of complaints when it comes to the construction of new wind turbines: Not enough speed and too much bureaucracy. Is the dismantling process going better?

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

Here in Germany, we have seen an up and down in the last years in the repowering sector. But it's quite a new sector. The situation for repowering will be easier in the future. One problem was that there are political reasons why we haven't seen enough speed in repowering in the different states of Germany or on the national level. But now we will see a little bit more speed. That's positive. I think the authorization procedure in the context of repowering is a bottleneck, that was a problem. We have crane bottlenecks. But when it comes to the way we recycle a wind turbine – we will see a lot of innovations here over the next years. Not only in Germany, also in Europe.

Presenter:

You were talking about standards earlier. A milestone was the publication of a specification in July 2020 by the DIN, the German Institute for Standardization. Before that, there were no standards and norms regarding the dismantling and recycling of wind turbines in Germany or Europe. Why is this DIN specification, titled „Sustainable dismantling, removal, recycling and recovery of wind turbines“ so important?

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

It's quite clear for us that standards and norms create transparency and security for everybody. This applies to turbine asset managers and companies involved in this special area. This increases trust. Dismantling certifactes create transparency and professional processes, this is really important for us to ensure occupational safety and the protection of the local environment. And this is the reason why we are so engaged in the standardization of this process. The idea was to develop a kind of checklist, a kind of standard, to make the lifecycle management of old wind turbines here in Germany better than before. Normally the manufacturers offer information. But during the research and development project it was quite clear that we need more information, more data to make repowering, decommissioning and recycling better than before. We need more data to develop this circular economy in the wind industry. Our DIN SPEC is now 25 pages in German and English. It's available cost free for everybody in Germany, in France, in Poland, in Denmark or wherever.

Presenter:

So you focus not only on Germany but on all countries engaged in the wind energy sector – meaning there are lots of business opportunities for international companies?

Annette Nüsslein, Founding and board member RDRWind e.V.

I think we need more innovative solutions in this area. But we need also companies which are engaged in the typical decommissioning area. We need more cranes. We have different kind of bottlenecks here in Germany. The logistics are a problem. So we're really happy about all companies which are willing to play an important role in this sector. We have seen a lot of international players in the on and offshore sector. They are willing to play a role in the circular economy. Also, the manufacturers are willing to push innovation forward, for example in the rotor blades production sector. That's extremely helpful. And I think if each company finds a way to play an important role in a special area, then the circular economy has a real chance in the wind industry. And I'm sure we will see the next generation of wind turbines being more circular. They'll be more efficient, more powerful, but also more circular.

Presenter:

So, lots of green energy – and lots of possibilities for companies in the wind energy sector. Annette, many thanks for joining us. As usual, before we say goodbye we’ll take a look at HOW GERMANY WORKS.

As we just heard, the technical specifications for recycling wind turbines and solar power are set by the German Institute of Standardization or D-I-N, as it is known here. It’s an officially registered organization based in Berlin that has been around since 1917. It has determined some 30 THOUSAND norms, covering everything from metric screw sizes and the transliteration of Arabic to steel chains and electromagnetism. It’s best known for setting the international standard size of a sheet of paper. In German, it's called DEEN-A-FOUR after the institute. And THAT’S how Germany works.

Presenter: 

We've come to the end of another episode of Into Germany. Many thanks to our guests Markus Krausewitz and Annette Nüsslein. If you’re eager to bask in the German sun or support the country’s winds of change, don’t hesitate to contact Germany Trade and Invest. We will be happy to advise you on your recycling project… all at no cost because we’re a government agency. Get in touch at gtai.com. We’re also keen on your opinions, suggestions and questions. Please leave a comment in your favorite podcast app or drop us a line. You’ll find all the details in our show notes.

So, till next month, “Auf Wiederhören” and remember: Germany means business. 

Presenter:

Okay, okay, I’m coming !

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