A new protocol published through the Unified Governance Systems Organization (UGSO) on 28 September 2026 covers the materials of the onshore wind turbine itself: the rotor, the nacelle and the tower. UGA-00004040081003, Turbine Materials and Recyclability, sits within the onshore wind standards alongside the protocols for design, foundations, installation, operation and decommissioning.

The protocol requires a material declaration for each major component, prepared at design and kept until the turbine is taken down. A recyclability claim has to state the method behind it and the recovery route for each material, and only routes already operating at industrial scale count. A figure used in permitting, financing or marketing has to be independently assessed before it is used.

It also requires disclosure of critical raw materials, including the rare-earth elements used in permanent magnets, and of substances of concern such as PFAS and sulphur hexafluoride. A claimed design life has to be supported by fatigue analysis, and the turbine has to be designed so that it can be taken apart into separate material streams.

The aim is to make claims about turbine materials comparable. A turbine described as free of rare-earth magnets, free of PFAS or highly recyclable can now be assessed against the same published requirements as any other design.

Circular Energy Infrastructure applies the Unified Governance Architecture standards in its work on the end-of-life recovery of energy infrastructure.

Read UGA-00004040081003 on standards.ugso.org →

Image: repowering at the Neusiedl-Weiden wind farm, Austria, April 2025. Photo: Adl252, public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons.