Thar She (Used To) Blow - Exelon's First Wind Decommissioning Project

Exelon Generation’s first wind decommissioning project involved the three oldest installations in Exelon Wind’s fleet. Exelon 1, 2, and 3, located north of Dumas, Texas, went commercial nearly eleven years ago. Equipment age and operation/maintenance cost increases in 2016 decided the fate (closure) of the 24 wind towers.

Planning for the decommissioning work, including returning the land back to greenfield conditions, began in the fall 2016 and continued to the project initiation in June 2017.

Challenges the decommissioning faced included:

• geographic location, north Texas almost in Oklahoma!
• distance to recycling markets
• lack of recycling vendors
• availability of landfills for non-recyclable materials
• land space for staging towers and components prior to recycling or repurposing
• restoration of farm & ranch lands back to owners
• ensuring clean soil for filling excavated areas (potential for invasive grass seeds in fill soil)

Changes in Project scope as project neared start included:

• optional recycling outlets
• innovative optional repurposing potential for towers and nacelles

The presentation will highlight the challenges, opportunities, solutions, and the Lessons Learned in Exelon's first Wind decommissioning project.