The European program HORIZON2020 aims to have 20% of electricity produced by renewable sources. The building sector represents 40% of the European Union energy consumption. Reducing energy consumption in buildings is therefore a priority for energy efficiency. The present investigation explores the most adequate roof shapes compatible with the placement of different types of small wind energy generators on high-rise buildings for urban wind energy exploitation. The wind flow around traditional state-of-the-art roof shapes is considered. In addition, the influence of the roof edge on the wind flow on high-rise buildings is analyzed. These geometries are investigated, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the turbulence intensity threshold for horizontal axis wind turbines is considered. The most adequate shapes for wind energy exploitation are identified, studying vertical profiles of velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence intensity. Curved shapes are the most interesting building roof shapes from the wind energy exploitation point of view, leading to the highest speed-up and the lowest turbulence intensity.

Utility-scale hybrid wind–solar PV power plants (which might include some storage as well) are an attractive option for the transition of conventional grids to incorporate high renewable energy (RE) shares. Along with lower generation costs, they offer increased dispatch capabilities and flexible operation. However, when assessing their potential, they present higher needs in terms of input data, as they are forced to consider both spatial and temporal variations to evaluate their techno-economic viability, as well as other common inputs such as economic, social or environmental data. The availability of the different data influences the type of analysis to be implemented. The microgrid approach of segmenting the information into layers will be adopted for the classification of data. Three different levels of analysis are sought: long-term energy scenarios, geo-spatial planning, and production cost estimation. The analysis of necessary data for each planning stage, and the available data sources for the assessment of utility-scale hybrid power plants, under this microgrid approach, is the main focus of this review.

The deployment of utility-scale hybrid wind–solar PV power plants is gaining global attention due to their enhanced performance in power systems with high renewable energy penetration. To assess their potential, accurate estimations must be derived from the available data, addressing key challenges such as (1) the spatial and temporal resolution requirements, particularly for renewable resource characterization; (2) energy balances aligned with various business models; (3) regulatory constraints (environmental, technical, etc.); and (4) the cost dependencies of the different components and system characteristics. When conducting such analyses at the regional or national scale, a trade-off must be achieved to balance accuracy with computational efficiency. This study reviews existing experiences in hybrid plant deployment, with a focus on Spain, identifying the lack of national-scale product cost models for HPPs as the main gap and establishing a replicable methodology for hybrid plant mapping. A simplified example is shown using this methodology for a country-level analysis.

Thermoplastic composites can be a solution for the circular economy of the wind industry. Some studies have focused on addressing the challenges of reusing raw materials and reducing both the economic costs and environmental damage. Thermoset composites have been crucial in increasing the size of wind turbines (WT), achieving longer and structurally more resistant blades, but they are difficult to recycle at the end of life and sometimes end up in landfills. Thermoplastic composites are being tested as an alternative to thermoset composites because of their similar structural properties and substantial advantages, such as ease of recycling. This article presents the results of the structural properties of a 2-m-long thermoplastic WT blade manufactured with a new thermoplastic resin called Akelite to obtain progress in the implementation of thermoplastic composites in this type of product. The new blade has been compared to an epoxy WT blade built with the same procedure. Property, static, and fatigue tests were performed on these blades to characterize them. The results of this comparison were quite similar, with less than 5% displacement in the static tests and a sensitivity change of less than 2% after the fatigue tests. Future studies should be conducted to extend this study to larger-scale blades.

The deployment of utility-scale hybrid wind-solar PV power plants is gaining global attention due to their enhanced performance in power systems with high renewable energy penetration. To assess their potential, accurate estimations must be derived from available data, addressing key challenges such as: (1) spatial and temporal resolution requirements, particularly for renewable resource characterization; (2) energy balances aligned with various business models; (3) regulatory constraints (environmental, technical, etc.); and (4) cost dependencies of different components and system characteristics. When conducting such analyses at regional or national scales, a trade-off must be achieved to balance accuracy with computational efficiency. This study reviews existing experiences in hybrid plant deployment, with a focus on Spain, and proposes a simplified methodology for country-level analysis.

The wind energy industry is constantly seeking lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and also to improve its environmental and social sustainability. Thermoplastic resins are considered to be key to recycling wind turbine blades in the best possible way to reuse the main raw materials at the end of their life. In this work, a new thermoplastic liquid resin, AKELITE, patented by CSIC, is used to produce a new generation of 100% circular, sustainable wind turbine blades. The aim is to recover the two main components, the fibres and the resin, in optimal conditions to produce a new wind blade. First, the recycling protocol of composite laminates was optimised and the properties of the recycled composite were analysed. Interestingly, the first recycling process resulted in an improvement in the mechanical properties compared to the original laminate, which is ascribed to the presence of a thin layer of resin on the fibre surface that improves the adhesion between the layers. Thus, it is expected that the new blade will have a good performance, using almost 100% of recyclable materials. A 1.9 m recycled wind turbine blade is currently being manufactured to validate the results of this study. The successful development of such blades could have a significant impact on the sustainability of wind energy, providing a path towards circularity and reducing the environmental impact of wind turbine blades at the end of their life cycle.