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A: Solar:
Solar Farms can be constructed quickly, given the modular assembly process. While there are variations to construction timeframes for a range of factors, including terrain, weather, labour availability and landholder considerations.
A solar farm will typically be in operation for between 30-40 years. At the end of a solar panel’s life, there is still a lot of value in the panel. A typical solar panel is made up of 16 different mined minerals, such as silica, titanium, cadmium and copper. Many of these minerals can be reused and reprocessed through a recycling process. As an example, copper is 100 per cent recyclable, with 98 per cent of all copper mined to date, still in use today.
Given this residual value in a solar panel past its production life, solar panels are typically sent to a recycler who can strip recover valuable minerals and other valuable materials that can be recycling, such as aluminium steel.
A: Wind:
The construction timeframe largely depends on the project size and may take several months to up to two to three years depending on the scope and scale of the project.
The designed, operational lifespan of a wind farm in Australia is typically about 25-30 years although there are opportunities to repower a project by replacing old turbines to extend the life of the project as a whole.
At the end of their operational life about 85-95 per cent of a wind turbine (by mass) is made of recyclable materials.  However, there is currently limited solutions for the reuse or recycling of wind turbine blades and this is a focus of current research and development.
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