Sustainable Products
PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY
Advancing Circularity in Wind Energy
~92.2 MILLION TONNES OF CO2E EMISSIONS WERE AVOIDED WORLDWIDE IN 2025 THANKS TO OUR TURBINES
Driven by our ambition to actively support the energy transition and guided by our sustainability vision, “Delivering sustainable wind solutions for a resilient tomorrow,” we continuously improve the sustainability performance of our products across their entire lifecycle. From turbine design to construction, installation, service and end‑of‑life, we consider economic, environmental, social, and health and safety aspects to enhance efficiency, environmental performance, and circularity. Close supplier partnerships and our sustainability product offerings help reduce CO₂e emissions and waste while increasing customer value. Customer satisfaction is decisive to our business success, which is why we actively consider customer perspectives, understand their needs, and continuously adapt our products and services through ongoing dialogue, including regular satisfaction surveys and stakeholder roundtables.
OUR APPROACHES
Lower material use and efficiency
gains through modularization
Since the Delta4000 turbine is designed for the global market, we pay special attention to harmonization and the modularity of components. This facilitates material handling and stockkeeping at the different production sites worldwide as well as in the service phase.
Dismantling and recycling
Internal analyses and sector‑wide assessments show that around 85 % to 97 % of all materials used in a wind turbine are already recyclable. To further unlock circular value, we are placing a strong focus on the composite materials in rotor blades. A key ambition is to enable fully recyclable blades. To achieve this, we are developing advanced global pathways for blade recycling, driving internal and external innovation projects, and collaborating through a strategic partnership with RenerCycle, strengthening the Nordex role within circularity ecosystems.
This work is guided by our broader circularity ambition: to deliver wind energy solutions through smart circular design, creating value beyond a single lifecycle.
Reduction in Cost of Energy
We reduce the electricity generation costs with the company-wide “Cost of Energy (COE) program”, for example, by using “value up” approaches such as yield increase or extension of service life with equivalent or only slightly increased usage of resources. This goes hand in hand with “cost down” initiatives such as improving logistics concepts for more efficient transport as well as material savings in components through further improved design.
Repair and refurbishment
in Service
We provide strong service with improved product development processes to minimize downtimes and maximize yields, e.g., by using self-hoisting crane solutions – and thereby reducing the environmental impact of our turbines.
Expanded range of applications for
Nordex turbines worldwide
We are adapting our turbines to changing climate conditions. Thanks to technical optimizations, high energy yields can also be achieved in regions with particularly low or particularly high average temperatures.
Repowering
This means replacing wind turbines that are close to or at the end of their planned lifetime with more efficient turbines to maximize energy generation. In this way, we work towards achieving targets in the area of renewable energies and make considerable gains in resource efficiency.
Product Health & Safety
We implement health and safety requirements for a smooth maintenance process, a safe working environment and reduced downtimes. We continually observe all relevant regional market requirements and identification of statutory and normative minimum obligations in the relevant target markets and operating markets.
Turbine control systems to protect fauna and local residents
We enable innovative control of facilities to protect fauna as well as local residents by offering a variety of operating modes and equipment modules (e.g., needs-based warning lights for aircraft, shadow flicker module, special-purpose wildlife protection modules or sound-reduced modes).
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINT
We perform life cycle assessments (LCAs) according to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 to evaluate the environmental impacts of our products in order to identify optimization potential and track improvements. We published our first LCA report in 2020 and analyzed several more wind farms since then, covering all relevant turbine types. Based on the results of these LCAs, we created Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) to provide harmonized and externally verified sustainability information. These analyses show that the specific carbon footprint, measured in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), for producing 1 kWh of electricity can be as low as 2.7 g CO2e over a turbine’s entire life cycle.
ENERGY AND CARBON PAYBACK TIME
AFTER ONLY A FEW MONTHS OF OPERATION, A NORDEX DELTA4000 TURBINE STARTS PAYING BACK ITS CARBON EMISSIONS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION!
Carbon payback time is the period a turbine must operate to offset its lifecycle CO₂e emissions. For Delta4000 turbines, it ranges from 1.9 to 4.2 months, while the energy payback time – the time needed to generate the energy used over the turbine’s lifecycle – is 5.0 to 7.7 months.
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT REPORTS
Delta4000 N175/6.X
In progress – publication expected in Q1 2026
Delta4000 N163/6.X
Delta4000 N163/5.X
Delta4000 N155/5.X
Delta4000 N149/5.X
Delta4000 N149/4.0-4.5
Delta4000 N133/4.8
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS
Delta4000 N175/6.X
In progress – publication expected in Q1 2026
Delta4000 N163/6.X
Delta4000 N163/5.X
Delta4000 N155/5.X
Delta4000 N149/5.X
Delta4000 N133/4.8
Delta N117/3600
MATERIAL MIX
Taking a look at the materials used in a Nordex N149/4.0-4.5 TS105 turbine it can be seen that the foundation accounts for around three quarters of the total weight.
Regarding the turbine alone without its foundation, steel is the dominant material making up 87 % of the material mix, followed by glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced composites at 9 % and plastics at 1.5 %. The remaining 2.4 % are composed of other materials such as operating fluids, electronics, aluminium or copper.
In general, the material composition depends on the Nordex turbine type. With hybrid or concrete towers, the material mix therefore looks different.
BLADE MATERIAL PASSPORTS
To actively drive a circular economy and uphold our responsibility for the products we offer, we provide Blade Material Passports for selected blade models. These standardized documents contain essential details about blade composition and dimensions. By sharing this information, we support wind farm operators and recycling partners in recovering valuable resources and maximizing recycling efficiency when blades reach end-of-life.