WT2013

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BLADE REINFORCEMENT TRENDS

ANALYSING CORE PROPERTIES

JEC 2013 EXHIBITION PREVIEW

WIND ENERGY MARKET UPDATE

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JEC Europe 2013

Paris, March 12, 13, 14,

booth #N32

2013 | WIND TURBINE BLADE MANUFACTURING 3

© Copyright Applied Market Information. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

04 News

08 Wind market pauses for breath Wind energy experts predict the big wind markets of Europe, the US and China

will all see slowing installation rates during 2013. But the outlook remains bright for this leading renewable technology.

16 Fibre makers prepare for a big future Bigger means better for developers of wind blade reinforcements. Peter

Mapleston discovers how the leading players are responding to increasingly tough demands from blade designers.

25 SSP sets new record with 83.5m blade SSP Technology recently delivered a record-breaking 83.5m offshore prototype

turbine blade for testing. Chris Smith takes a closer look at the development and manufacturing project.

28 Understanding the core properties Resin penetration into blade core materials during infusion can provide additional

stiffness. A test programme at Gurit has attempted to quantify the mechanical improvement for blade modelling.

34 Fibre optic blade strain monitoring Operation and maintenance is a key cost in offshore wind installations. Optical

strain gauge technology can allow continuous and remote monitoring, says Luc Rademakers.

39 The forum for blade innovation Investment activity in wind energy may have slowed but technical innovations

continue apace. We report from the Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference.

44 Composites blow into Paris Wind energy will once again be a key element within the JEC Europe exhibition in

Paris. We take a look at some of the new products and technologies that will be on show.

48 Product update

� Click here to make sure you get your copy

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contact usHead of business publishing: Andy Beevers E-mail: [email protected]

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Designer: Nicola Crane

Advertisement manager: Claire Bishop E-mail: [email protected] Direct tel: +44 (0)20 8686 8139

WIND TURBINE BLADE MANUFACTURING | 20134

news

Alstom upgrades its ECO 100 platform

Dong to build E1bn Rough farm

Alstom has completed an upgrade of the

3MW ECO 100 turbine installed at the US

Department of Energy’s NREL centre in

Colorado to ECO 110 specification by

installing new larger 53.5m long blades.

The rotor exchange is part of a

project designed to maximise power

outputs for intermediate wind speeds

(IEC Class II).

“There is great potential for develop-

ing medium wind speed resources

throughout the US and Canada,” said

Albert Fisas, director of innovation for

Alstom’s North American wind busi-

ness. “With this upgrade complete,

Alstom and NREL will launch a

commissioning and testing program to

certify the performance of the new rotor

configuration for use in North America

and worldwide.”

Alstom claims to have 900MW of

capacity in operation or under construc-

tion worldwide based on its 3MW ECO

100 platform. Last month, it announced

an upgrade of the design to ECO 122

specification, which is said to be

suitable for IEC Class III sites and

capable of providing a net capacity

increase of 48%.

❙ www.alstom.com

Dong Energy is to build a

210MW offshore wind farm

8km off the coast of Holder-

ness in the UK using 35 6MW

turbines from Siemens.

Construction of the

Westermost Rough wind farm

will commence next year with

the facility coming on line in

the first half of 2015. According

to Dong, it will be the first

large installation to use this

of energy through the deploy-

ment of new technologies, and

Westermost Rough will provide

a tangible example of how we

are doing just that,” said Benj

Sykes, Dong Energy Wind

Power UK country manager.

The Westermost Rough

wind farm will cover 35km2.

It is wholly owned by Dong

Energy

❙ www.dongenergy.co.uk

3A invests in balsa stocksSwitzerland’s 3A Compos-

ites has announced a 20%

expansion in its balsa

plantation base in Ecuador,

taking its total ownership to

10,000 hectares.

The company, which

claims to be the global

leader in balsa core

materials, says the move

will secure supply of its

FSC-certified Baltek

product for its customers.

The investment also

includes new balsa

processing machinery.

The strength and

stiffness of balsa makes it a

preferred core option in

applications such as wind

blades.

Ecuador is the world’s

leading balsa producer.

❙ www.3acomposites.com

The CEZ Group wind park at

Dobogrea in Romania, which

came on line late last year with

600MW of generating capacity,

is claimed to be Europe’s

largest onshore scheme.

The project uses 240 2.5MW

turbines with 50m rotor blades

supplied by GE Worldwide. The

company claims its 2.5MW

design provides high levels of

efficiency and reliability under

a wide range of weather

conditions.

CEZ Group, which owns and

operates the Dobogrea park, is

Central Europe’s largest utility

firm.

GE’s general manager for

renewable energy in Europe,

Stephen Ritter said the project

represented a considerable

logistical challenge, with 12

modes of transport required to

move the component parts

from the Black Sea port of

Constanta to Dobogrea and as

many as 25 cranes in use on

the site at one time.

GE says it has supplied

more than 1,000 turbines of

this design to date.

❙ www.ge.com

GE supplies giant project in Romania

latest Siemens turbine.

The project represents an

investment of around E1bn,

including the required

transmission infrastructure of

inter-arrays, export cables and

offshore sub-station.

“We are excited about the

potential of this new technol-

ogy and deploying the 6MW

turbine on this scale. We are

committed to reducing the cost

Installation of the

larger blades

at NERL


news

Siemens wins E700m offshore contract

BASF will introduce its first

PET-based foam core material

for the wind energy market at

this month’s JEC Europe show

in Paris, France.

❙ Gamesa has secured a

three-year contract to

provide operation and

maintenance services at 13

wind farms owned by EDP

Renewables. The contract

covers 400MW of capacity in

France, Spain and Portugal.

It includes maintenance of

402 Gamesa turbines and

technical assistance for a

further 179 units.

www.gamesa.es

❙ Dow Formulated Systems

has opened a Global Wind

Application Centre in

Switzerland. The 800m2

facility is located at Freinen-

bach near Zurich and

includes resin formulation

and testing capabilities for

development of Dow’s

Airstone adhesive bonding,

vacuum bagging and vacuum

infusion resin systems.

www.dowwindenergy.com

❙ Siemens Energy completed

its first onshore wind project

with Shanghai Electric at the

end of last year. The Guangrao

power project has a capacity

of 50MW and includes 20

SWT-2.5-108 turbines, each

of which provides 2.5Mw

capacity and uses 108m

diameter rotors.

www.siemens.com

❙ Denmark’s DTU has

inaugurated its wind turbine

test centre at Østerild, which

is claimed to be able to

accommodate turbines up to

250m high. The site has

seven test stands; Vestas and

Siemens have each bought

two and China’s Envision

Energy is leasing one.

www.dtu.dk

news in brief

Germany’s WPD Group has awarded a E700m

contract to Siemens to supply and service 80 wind

turbines for the 288MW Butendiek offshore wind

power plant in the North Sea.

The Butendiek wind energy facility is located

around 32 km west of the island of Sylt near the

German-Danish border and is expected to come on

line in 2015. The Siemens contract includes a 10-year

maintenance element.

“By 2020, we estimate that 500GW of wind power

will be installed worldwide. Offshore wind power

plants constitute by far the fastest growing segment

of this market,” said Felix Ferlemann, CEO of

Siemens Energy’s Wind Power Division.

“Maritime wind power is playing a key role in

Germany’s energy turnaround efforts. Its broad

acceptance among the general public and signifi-

cantly higher energy capture than onshore installa-

tions are particular points in its favour,” he said.

❙ www.siemens.com

BASF launches into PET blade cores

Suzlon wins Cookhouse wind orderIndia’s Suzlon Group has

secured a contract to supply

and service 66 of its S-88

2.1MW wind turbines for the

Cookhouse Wind Farm,

which is to be constructed

in the Eastern Cape

Province of South Africa.

The Cookhouse farm is

the largest renewable

energy project to be selected

within the South African

Department of Energy’s

Renewable Energy Inde-

pendent Power Producers

Procurement Programme.

Construction started in

January of this year.

❙ www.suzlon.com

The company claims that

the Kerdyn PET foam provides

a very good combination of

light weight and mechanical

properties and is compatible

with a wide range of process-

ing technologies used in the

wind energy marketplace.

BASF will also show its

latest low viscocity Baxxodur

System 5100 epoxy resin

system for vacuum infusion

processing and the new

GL-certified Baxxodur 4100

fast bonding adhesive system.

l Turn to page 42 for details of

more new production and

technology introductions to be

unveiled at JEC Europe.

❙ www.basf.comBASF’s Kerdyn PET core foam


news

The UK-based Energy

Technology Institute (ETI) has

announced a £15.5m project to

develop a new generation of

wind turbine blades up to

100m long with Isle of Wight

based blade designer and

manufacturer Blade Dynamics.

The project, which sees ETI

take an equity stake in Blade

Dynamics, aims to design and

manufacture a number of

prototype blades in the

80-100m size range suitable

for off-shore application. Blade

Dynamics will develop the

designs in conjunction with an

as yet unidentified turbine

manufacturer. According to

ETI, the intention is to have

prototype blades ready for

production by the end of 2014.

Structural testing will be

carried out in the UK.

“Offshore wind has the

potential to be a much larger

contributor to the UK energy

system if today’s costs can be

significantly reduced. Investing

in this project to develop

larger, more efficient blades is

a key step for the whole

industry in paving the way for

more efficient turbines, which

will in turn help bring the costs

of generating electricity down,”

said ETI offshore wind project

manager Paul Trinick.

The blades are being

designed for use on the next

generation of offshore wind

turbines, which are expected

to provide generating capaci-

ties of 8-10MW. The blades will

utilise the modular construc-

tion technology developed by

Blade Dynamics and will use

carbon fibre reinforcement to

enable weight to be kept to the

minimum.

Blade Dynamics gained GL

certification early last year for

its 49m long glass/carbon

reinforced Dynamic 49 design,

which weighs just 6,150kg.

While carbon reinforcement

is more costly than glass, the

reduced blade mass is

expected to allow turbine

designers to save money in the

remainder of the turbine

design and will contribute to a

reduced energy production

cost, according to ETI.

“Our investment strategy

here is to provide financial

support to allow [Blade

Dynamics] to develop its

technology further, to

accelerate and expand the

testing of this UK technology,

and to identify the large-scale

development opportunity of

this design approach,” said

Trinick.

The first stage of the project

will develop a blade design and

test detailed design and

manufacturing technologies.

The second stage will establish

and demonstrate the proposed

manufacturing processes on a

blade for a 6MW turbine. The

final stage will be to develop,

test and verify a blade for a

turbine in the 8-10MW range.

ETI is a private-public

partnership between BP,

Caterpillar, EDF, E.ON,

Rolls-Royce, Shell and the UK

government. Its focus is to

speed up development of

affordable and secure low-

carbon energy technologies.

❙ www.eti.co.uk❙ www.bladedynamics.com

Blade Dynamics’ 49m long Dynamic 49 blade uses

glass and carbon fibre and modular construction

techniques to keep weight to 6,150kg. The new

ETI-funded project aims to extend these

technologies to the 80-100m size range

UK-based ETI invests £15.5m inlarge offshore blade project

More fibre capacity for PPG/Nan Ya China JVChina-based PFG Fiber Glass (Kunshan),

a 50:50 joint venture between PPG

Industries and Nan Ya Plastics, has

started up a fourth furnace lifting its total

annual capacity to 144,000 tonnes.

“This furnace features innovative,

state-of-the-art technology,” said Terry

Fry, PPG general manager of global

electronics and the company’s regional

fibre glass business. “The technological

advancements of its manufacturing

operation enable us to maximise process

efficiency while saving energy and

reducing emissions.”

PFG Fiber Glass was established in

2001 to supply glass fibre yarns for

electronics applications such as PCBs but

also produces reinforcement grades. The

JV partners also operate a 90,000 tonnes/

year PFG plant in Taiwan.

❙ www.ppg.com


feature | Market report

Wind energy experts predict Europe, the US and China will all see slowing

installation rates this year. But the outlook for this leading renewable

technology remains bright

PH

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Global wind energy capacity has expanded at an

impressive rate over the past decade, with installed

capacity building consistently year-on-year (see fi gure

1). Even in the immediate aftermath of the fi nancial

crisis, the industry saw modest year-on-year gigawatt

gains. However, activity is set to slow this year as each

of the major wind energy-producing regions - the US,

China and Europe – falls short of recent installation

rates. While most analysts predict this is a temporary

blip, 2013 will without doubt be a tough year for many.

“We are seeing a big change this year,” says Dan

Shurey, a wind industry analyst at Bloomberg New

Energy Finance (BNEF) in London. Last year, an

estimated 44GW of wind capacity was installed world-

wide, but BNEF is predicting just 39GW this year.

According to Shurey: “2013 and 2014 will represent the

low point of the industry, but it should slowly recover in

the following few years.”

Politics hits hard in the USThe biggest downturn is likely to be seen in the US,

where the wind industry has fallen victim to the

country’s large budget defi cit and the political gridlock

in its legislature. Some 13GW of wind generating

capacity was installed in 2012, but BNEF predicts this

will slump to just 3GW for 2013. Most of the blame for

this can be laid with a government that simply took too

long to renew the key federal subsidy - the production

tax credit (PTC) - which incentivises project developers

by allowing them to offset their federal income tax bill

by $22 per megawatt-hour (MWh) of energy produced.

Historically, the US Congress has only granted the

PTC for one or two-year periods and the process of

Wind market pauses for breath

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renewing it has often been delayed until the last minute,

causing havoc for developers’ planning. This year, that

situation was played out again, as the PTC for 2013 was

entwined in the fractious US budget debate and was

only fi nally confi rmed on 1 January. A boom in 2012

ahead of the deadline has now turned to bust.

“The uncertainty over renewal has put a dampener

on activity,” says Arnaud Bouillé, a director in the

renewable energy team at Ernst & Young in London.

“Some players will have kept momentum with projects,

but others will have stopped activities while awaiting

regulatory certainty.”

However, along with the one-year renewal, the

industry did secure an important change. Eligibility for

the PTC now starts when construction begins on a new

project, whereas previously it was when the scheme

began generating. This is likely to help ameliorate some

of the boom-bust tendency, according to analysts.

US renewables developers also have access to a

second federal-level subsidy – the investment tax credit

(ITC). This offers a 30% tax relief to investors and can be

used as an alternative to the PTC scheme.

Meanwhile, further incentives are available at a state

level, such as sales tax exemptions, state-level tax

credits, and renewable energy targets. More than half of

all US states have a policy – known as a renewables

portfolio standard (RPS) – that requires utilities to

deliver a certain proportion of energy from renewable

sources. California’s RPS scheme, for example, targets

generating 33% of energy from renewables by 2020 and,

in addition, has a carbon-trading programme that

penalises fossil fuel generation. Small projects of less

than 3MW capacity can access a feed-in tariff - a direct

per-MWh subsidy paid to developers - and were

previously able to receive cash grants.

States furthest from meeting their RPS targets

include Maine, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and

Hawaii, according to Paul Gaynor, CEO of First Wind, a

developer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Renewable resolve weakens in EuropeIn Europe, the EC has set a target to produce 20% of

energy from renewables by 2020 and wind will contrib-

ute the largest part of this. According to the European

Renewable Energy Council, wind turbines will supply

more than 14% of total European electricity consump-

tion in 2020, requiring over 213GW of capacity (of which

43GW will be offshore). This is double the 100GW or so

currently installed and points to a healthy combined

average annual growth rate of some 10%.

But headwinds are growing stronger. European

governments have been pulling back on some of the

most generous wind subsidies as they attempt to plug

huge budget defi cits, with the result that renewable

energy targets are at risk of being ignored. Spain,

Europe’s second-biggest wind energy market with more

than 22GW installed, last year froze its feed-in tariff so

that any projects built after the end of 2012 would not

qualify. It also slapped a new 7% tax on wind farm

(ITC). This offers a 30% tax relief to investors and can be In Europe, the EC has set a target to produce 20% of

energy from renewables by 2020 and wind will contrib-

ute the largest part of this. According to the European

Renewable Energy Council, wind turbines will supply

more than 14% of total European electricity consump-

tion in 2020, requiring over 213GW of capacity (of which

43GW will be offshore). This is double the 100GW or so

currently installed and points to a healthy combined

average annual growth rate of some 10%.

governments have been pulling back on some of the

most generous wind subsidies as they attempt to plug

huge budget defi cits, with the result that renewable

energy targets are at risk of being ignored. Spain,

Europe’s second-biggest wind energy market with more

than 22GW installed, last year froze its feed-in tariff so

that any projects built after the end of 2012 would not

qualify. It also slapped a new 7% tax on wind farm

250

200

150

100

50

01996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Figure 1: Total global installed wind energy generation capacity (GW) by year, 1996-2012 Source: Ren21

PH

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Changes to the

US PTC system

may reduce the

boom-bust

investment

tendency in

wind


Market report | feature

operators. Few, if any, wind farms are expected to break

ground in Spain this year, says BNEF’s Shurey.

Italy has changed its support for wind from a green

certificate system - where developers are given tradable

certificates in proportion to the energy they generate

which are then sold to utilities as evidence they have

delivered a certain amount of renewable energy to

customers - to a process where developers must bid in

a competitive auction to obtain a feed-in tariff. However,

the government is only inviting bids for 500MW of

capacity this year, about half of the country’s recent

average annual installation rate.

If the bugbear of US wind developers is the PTC, then

for their European counterparts it is the price placed on

carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The EU’s pioneering

emissions trading system, launched in 2005, was

intended to penalise coal and gas-fired power genera-

tion and to encourage renewables. Unfortunately, too

many emissions permits were given away for free to

industry, whose output slumped with the financial

crisis, leading to a massive oversupply in the carbon

market. CO2 prices were sitting at less than €5/tonne in

mid-January, far from the E15-20/tonne analysts

estimate is needed to move generators away from coal

generation. Attempts to modify the carbon market in

favour of renewables have run into fierce opposition

from industry.

Repowering gains in GermanyGermany – Europe’s largest wind market with 30GW

installed – was looking relatively stable thanks to its

government’s decision to phase-out nuclear energy in

favour of renewables following the Fukushima disaster.

The country installed around 2GW of wind generating

capacity last year and has been a leader in “repowering”

– the process of replacing existing turbines with newer,

larger units – which already represents about 10% of the

annual capacity added in Germany. The country’s

government has operated a special repowering incentive

of E5/MWh, on top of the E48/MWh basic rate.

However, consumers have been angered by rising

electricity bills and the pressure has been felt by the poli-

ticians. With an eye on September elections, the

government in mid-February proposed changes to its

renewable energy law that would essentially halt

repowering and reduce the build-out of new projects. The

proposal “will cast a new wave of uncertainty over the

traditionally stable market,” says BNEF’s Shurey.

In any event, repowering is not always straightfor-

ward. “Turbines being developed today are much larger

and they may not sit well on the site that’s to be repow-

ered. There might be some acceptability [planning]

issues around larger turbines being installed and in

physically getting them to the site,” says E&Y’s Bouillé.

Meanwhile, the wind investment picture looks quite

bright in some other European markets. Shurey

describes the UK as “a very favourable market” with

bold targets, despite some uncertainties created by the

persistently evolving subsidy structure. Feed-in tariffs

Figure 2: Wind energy investment attractive index by country (at November 2012)Rank Previousrank Country Wind Onshore Offshore

1 1 China 76 77 69

2 2 Germany 68 65 78

3 3 India 63 69 40

3 6 Canada 63 66 46

5 3 UK 62 59 78

5 3 US* 62 64 55

7 7 France 58 59 54

8 9 Sweden 55 55 53

8 10 Poland 55 57 44

10 11 Romania 54 57 44

* represents US states with RPS and favourable renewable energy regimesIndices reflect regulatory/political risk, ease of planning and grid connection, access to finance, resource quality, growth potential, current installed base, situation for power offtake, tax Source: Ernst & Young

Figure 3: Installed wind energy capacity (GW) by country – 2012Rank Country Totalcapacity Capacityaddedin byJune2012 firsthalf2012

1 China 67.8 5.4

2 US 49.8 2.9

3 Germany 30 0.9

4 Spain 22.1 0.4

5 India 17.4 1.5

6 Italy 7.3 0.5

7 France 7.2 0.7

8 UK 6.8 0.8

9 Canada 5.5 0.2

10 Portugal 4.4 0.02

Source: WWEA. Italy figures to end of May 2012, France figures to end of April 2012

Figure 4: Operational and planned offshore wind projects and capacities by region Operational Operational Planned Planned projects capacity projects capacity (number) (GW) (number) (GW)

Europe 61 4.1 347 123

Americas 0 0 139 42.5

Asia 14 0.8 107 24.4

Source: Arthur D Little



or green certificates are available to developers of

large-scale projects, but the UK government is due to

introduce a “contracts for difference” system in the

future that aims to provide stable revenues for wind

investors while not over-compensating them if energy

prices soar or turbine costs fall.

Meanwhile, emerging European markets such as

Romania, Bulgaria and Finland are, in terms of percent-

age growth figures, looking to be real hotspots. How-

ever, these countries are starting from very small base

levels and growth is unlikely to be sufficient to make up

for the decline in the bigger markets of Europe.

China retains its leading placeWorldwide, it is a similar picture, with relative newcom-

ers such as Brazil, Chile and Mexico making the biggest

gains. China, however, remains the global leader (see

figure 3), with a preliminary estimate of 14GW of new

capacity installed in 2012.

This impressive achievement just beat the US into

second place and brought China’s total wind generating

capacity to 76GW. Even so, last year’s installation rate

was a significant reduction on 2011’s 17.6GW as

financing and grid capacity issues took hold. And

although the National Energy Bureau is reportedly

eyeing 18GW of new Chinese capacity this year, analysts

expect installation figures of about 15-17GW/year in the

medium term.

China’s 12th five-year plan calls for 150GW of wind

generation capacity to be installed by 2020 - a target

that looks eminently achievable if the current installa-

tion rate continues. “The history of the wind sector in

China is they always overshoot the target,” says Liming

Qiao, China director of the Global Wind Energy Council.

“But we have some problems that started to emerge in

2011 and 2012.”

Wind energy generators are experiencing more and

more difficulty in delivering power to China’s under-

developed grid, which becomes overloaded during

windy periods. The average curtailment rate - the

proportion of energy that could not be produced

because of shut-downs demanded by the grid operator

- is currently around 16% and as high as 20% in some

regions, Qiao says, compared to less than 10% in

Europe. Major cross-provincial transmissions lines are

being built, but “projects are being held up while grid

issues are solved,” she says.

There have also been financing issues in China. The

fund that awards the feed-in tariff to wind farm develop-

ers is under-capitalised and suffering from administra-

tive problems, which has resulted in problems for wind

farm developers. “A lot of wind farms were not paid,”

Qiao says. “Sometimes [the developers] had problems

The challenge in offshore windAs a relatively new technology that has to face some very challenging

environmental conditions, offshore wind farms are having their fair share

of troubles and a number of country installation targets are unlikely to be

met.

In Europe, the only region with significant experience in building and

operating offshore wind farms (see figure 4), cost overruns and delays

are common. Immature supply chains have also led to shortages of

critical items, for example in specialist installation vessels.

Grid connections seem particularly problematic, with German

offshore sites stymied by the unavailability of high-voltage DC transmis-

sion equipment. Installation is also difficult. According to the insurance

broker Marsh, damage to cables accounts for more than half of all

insurance claims from offshore wind projects.

Given these challenges, Europe’s ambition to have more than 40MW

of offshore wind generating capacity in operation seems optimistic at the

current time.

China’s offshore target is for 3GW of offshore capacity by 2015 and

30GW by 2020, but judging by the present delays this is looking difficult

to achieve, says Liming Qiao, China director of the Global Wind Energy

Council. The particular challenge in China has been coordination

between the various government agencies involved, she notes.

Installation of offshore capacity is, however, running at around 7.5GW/

year globally. That may be small compared to the 30-40GW of onshore

wind, but offshore is growing fast. The sector also attracts a very

different type of investor due to its scale; offshore wind requires billions

of dollars of financing which puts them in the class of large infrastruc-

ture projects. “Huge utilities are throwing their balance sheets at

offshore wind, and there’s increasing interest from pension funds,” says

Dan Shurey, wind industry analyst at BNEF.

pH

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COME AND VISIT US INPAVILION 1/ STAND D17



paying the turbine manufacturers, and the manufactur-

ers had problems paying their suppliers.”

In acknowledgement of these problems, the feed-in

tariff in China has remained unchanged since 2009,

despite falling turbine costs. “Given the fact that

curtailment is high, it’s not fair to reduce the feed-in

tariff,” Qiao adds.

Wind closes the cost gapHow much longer wind will need government support is

a difficult question to answer. Wind power generation is

certainly becoming more competitive with conventional

power. For example, the costs of wind turbines have

fallen by about 20-25% over the last three to four years,

according to BNEF’s Shurey. Since turbines represent

60-65% of a project’s capital expenditure, this makes a

big difference to installation costs.

However, Shurey notes there is a growing divergence

between the cost of ‘old’ and ‘new’ technologies. The

newer 2MW-plus, 100m-high turbines are holding at a

price of more than E1m/MW as producers try to preserve

margins. But smaller, older turbine designs are continu-

ing to fall in cost, albeit less steeply than previously.

Fierce competition between providers has also

helped reduce the cost of operation and maintenance by

around 40% over the past three or four years, says

Shurey, and the capacity factor - the actual production

over the potential production - has also improved as

taller turbines sit in faster air.

All these changes have helped improve wind’s

competitiveness and, even though other renewables

technologies - notably solar - have also seen dramatic

falls in their per-MW cost, wind remains the cheapest

route to renewable generation.

E&Y’s Bouillé says that onshore wind is even

becoming a cost-viable solution without subsidies “in

places where the wind regime is exceptional and where

access to the grid is not too costly.” However, he points

out that such a combination of circumstances occurs

only very rarely and typically a wind farm will still cost

about 50% more than a fossil fuel power station of

similar capacity.

The challenge of shale gasWhere wind faces a very real threat is in the competition

in energy pricing resulting from the boom in production

of cheap shale gas. The slump in US natural gas prices

is putting “a whole new spin on the economic viability of

wind in the US, and the same rationale applies to the

rest of the world,” according to Bouillé.

Long-term power purchase agreements, often

necessary to obtain financing for wind farms, have

become harder to obtain as a result. However, some

observers doubt that the US shale gas revolution will be

replicated in other parts of the world and, in developing

countries where demand for power is climbing, still see

wind playing a very significant role.

It is also possible that the boom in gas could benefit

the wind sector. One of the problems with wind energy

is that its production is unpredictable, only being

available when the wind blows. In liberalised energy

markets with lots of wind farms, such as in Germany,

breezy conditions have combined with moments of low

power demand to force spot electricity prices below

zero. In such circumstances anyone delivering power to

the grid is penalised and generators are incentivized to

stop producing power.

Bouillé describes this as a “critical issue” and says it is

one with only a handful of solutions. One is much better

grid integration to enable power to be delivered further

afield. This is a solution that is being actively pursued,

with the recent link between the UK and Ireland an

example. Demand-side management is also an option

but is very complicated to achieve in reality, he says.

However, wind in combination with a cheap ‘dis-

patchable’ power source such as natural gas could

provide a very effective combination for meeting

low-carbon energy needs - assuming that markets and

incentives can be appropriately designed.

pH

OTO

: NO

rD

Ex

Low cost shale

gas could help

wind gain

ground in more

liberalised

energy

markets

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materials | Reinforcements

Bigger means better for developers of wind blade reinforcements. Peter Mapleston hears how the leading

players are responding to increasingly tough demands from blade designers

PH

OTO

: BA

SF

Wind power fi gures large in the composites industry

with around 10% of all glass fi bre available for compos-

ites ending up in wind turbine blades. Today’s wind

blades are already among the largest parts currently

made in composites. But for wind energy to be competi-

tive with traditional energy options, turbines need to be

even bigger. And that places increasingly tough demands

on designers and on the material supply chain.

The rationale, of course, is simple - bigger blades

catch more of the wind. “Swept area is critical,” says

Cheryl Richards, global market development manager

for wind energy at glass fi bre producer PPG Industries.

“Power is proportional to the square of the radius.”

However, as the blade gets bigger, it gets heavier,

and the stresses on it increase. Blade weight rises with

the cube of the radius. So if current E-glass fi bres are

used to produce 10-20% longer blades, a 33-73%

increase in the blade weight would be expected.

Heavier blades increase the overall cost in the wind

turbine system operation. “That’s where the challenge

is,” says Richards. “There’s a lot of interest in new

materials that can make the blades longer without a

large increase in weight.”

E-glass accounts for a large part of the wind turbine

blade market. E-glass is defi ned by its chemical

composition (it is primarily composed of CaO, Al2O3, and

SiO2) and the chemical composition defi nes its perfor-

mance. Numerous glass fi bre companies are developing

grades with mechanical properties better than those of

E-glass, but always with an eye on the costs.

PPG’s work in this area has led to the development

of Innofi ber XM fi bre glass. The chemical composition of

Innofi ber XM falls outside the specifi cation for E-glass,

delivering properties associated more with higher

performance R-glass (alumino silicate glass with no

Fibre reinforcement makersprepare for a bigger future

If installation

costs can be

contained,

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offshore

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good. That will

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for high

performance

fi bres

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Figure 3: 3B says it achieved its aim of developing a glass fi bre with better mechanical properties that has a forming temperature below most other speciality glass fi bres

Figure 2: Comparison of modulus values in epoxy unidirectional laminates containing different fi bres and sizing Source: 3B

MgO and CaO).

On paper, the differences between regular E-glass

and Innofi ber XM do not appear major – both are

alkaline earth aluminosilicates – but Innofi ber XM has

rather more magnesium oxide in it, less calcium and

zero boron. More importantly for turbine blade makers

is the fact there are signifi cant differences in the

mechanical properties.

Innofi ber XM has strength and modulus that are

10-15% higher than E-glass, and these improvements

are also carried through into fabrics and prepregs. PPG

has carried out various tests by substituting E-glass

with Innofi ber XM in the spar cap on 33m blades

designed by the US Department of Energy to validate its

results (see diagram). “The model shows we can

increase energy output,” Richards says, recognizing

that blade makers themselves could get even better

results.

“What’s exciting for us is that the wind energy

industry is big enough to merit the development of new

fi bres,” says Richards. “It’s large enough to support [our

investment in] their commercial production. The wind

industry is actually in a position to drive a whole new

area of composites. You will eventually see these fi bres

migrate into other high-performance composite

applications, such as automotive and aerospace.”

Richard’s colleague at PPG Hong Li, who invented

Innofi ber XM, says there are now several high modulus

fi bres available for making stiffer lightweight wind

blades. “For example, carbon fi bre has a substantially

high modulus (150 GPa) and signifi cantly lower density

(1.78 g/cm3) than glass fi bre. However, the high cost of

carbon fi bre prohibits its use as a full replacement for

glass fi bre.”

S-Glass fi bre is another potential solution, Li notes.

But he says its melting and fi bre forming temperatures

are extremely high, so manufacturing is limited to a

small scale manufacturing platform. Throughput is at

least 1000 times lower than that of a commercial E-glass

fi bre production platform, Li says.

Last year, 3B (which calls itself 3B-the fi breglass

company), followed up on its Advantex SE2020 E-glass

roving for turbine blades with an R-glass, HiPer-tex

W2020. Both are specifi cally engineered for epoxy

polymer systems used in resin infusion or prepreg

processes. 3B says HiPer-tex W2020 has signifi cantly

greater strength and strain-to-failure than traditional

E-glass. In a typical unidirectional laminate made with

HiPer-tex W2020 R-glass (average glass volume

fraction 60%), E-modulus is 54-56 GPa, transverse

tensile strength is 55-60 MPa, and fatigue resistance is

ten times better than a traditional E-glass laminate.

HiPer-tex W2020 combines an optimised glass

composition with proprietary sizing technology for epoxy

systems, says Luc Peters, 3B wind technical leader. It

is said to offer improved wet-out for a more consistent

laminate quality. “The signifi cantly improved resin

matrix adhesion provides higher shear strength and

substantially greater interfi bre strength when compared

with existing high modulus fi bre glass in the market

place, he claims.

Peters says the main objectives of the new glass

formulation development were to increase the E

modulus by 10% versus the best E glass while main-

taining the strain to failure (which means a minimum

10% increase of tensile strength) and keeping manufac-

turing costs under control by lowering the fi bre forming

temperature.

Onur Tokgoz, 3B wind energy global business leader,

says the company is “collaborating with the whole value

chain in the wind industry sector to bring to market new

cost competitive and high performance reinforcements

which further pushes the limits of glass fi bre rotor


Reinforcements | materials

blade designs.”

Chinese company Jushi is another glass fibre

supplier now making R-glass, in its case under the ViPro

banner. Jushi says its “398” grade made using ViPro

technology is 13% stronger than a corresponding

E-glass, while modulus is 11% higher. “The tension-

tension fatigue resistance of laminates made from

ViPro-based 398 is 16% higher than those made from

E6-based counterparts (one million cycles, stress ratio R

0.1), and the ViPro-based product has a fatigue life five

times longer under the same load,” the company claims.

Owens Corning’s WindStrand H R-glass roving family

is, not surprisingly, specifically for turbine blades. It

claims grades provide blade component weight savings

of up to 20% versus conventional E-glass blades of

similar design, depending on the size of the blade. The

company notes that the glass formulation “is designed

for excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength

and modulus) and offers significantly better thermal

and corrosion resistance properties than E-glass.”

The roving consists of continuous filaments gathered

in a single-end roving without mechanical twist and

treated with specifically developed sizings for the

weaving & knitting, prepreg and infusion processes typi-

cally used in the wind turbine industry. The first grade in

the family, WindStrand H EPW17, was developed for

composites based on epoxy resin systems. Tensile

modulus is 52.5 GPa.

AGY, which claims to have the largest portfolio of

glass chemistries of any glass fibre manufacturer (with

various types of E-Glass and S-Glass), recently added

S-1 rovings, aimed directly at demanding wind turbine

applications. It says that S-1 HM rovings are “designed

to give the highest mechanical properties while meeting

Figure 1:

Substituting

E-glass with

speciality glass

can have an

important

effect on

turbine energy

output

Source, PPG

Table 1. Summary of representative compositions, Young’s modulus, and melt properties of selected high modulus glasses (in comparison with E-glass)Glass fibre type Property

SiO2 Al2O3 MgO CaO B2O3 R2O density E modulus TL TF

content % content % content % content % content % content % g/cm2 GPa ˚C ˚C

E-glass (generic) 52-62 12-16 0-5 16-25 0-10 0 – 2 2.60–2.65 72-80 <1155 <1210

S-glass (generic) 64-66 24-25 9.5-10 0-0.1 0 0-0.3 2.46- 88-91 1470 1571

R-glass (generic) 60 25 6 9 0 - 2.55 86 1410 1330

HiPer-tex [1] 60.6 19.9 10.3 8.7 0 1.1 2.55 90 1280 1351

H-Glass [2] 60.0 15.7 8.4 13.7 0 1.3 2.61 87 1198 1268

Innofiber XM 60.8 15.2 6.8 15.5 0 0.8 2.58 88 1207 1273

M2 [2] 48-54 16-22 18-23 - 0 - 2.77 93 1300 1342

T [3] 56 16 8 14 0 < 1 2.49 88 1210 1240

PohriS [4] 62-66 14-16.4 4-6 10-12 0 0.6 2.53 84 – 1400

Source: PPG[1] Product of 3B-the fibreglass company[2] Product of Owens Corning Vetrotex[3] From “Study on Preparation and Properties of New High Strength Glass Fibers. Functional Materials 2010 41; J. Liu, J. Zhu, Q. Zu.[4] From U.S. Patent US20110236684, Thermal Resistant Glass Fibers. R. Teschner, K. Richter, H.P. Richter. S.D.R. Biotec Verfahrenstechnik GmbH



the economic needs for the reinforcement market.”

The S-1 HM glass fibre has a density of 2.55 g/cm3,

which is lower than typical E- and R-glass, and a tensile

modulus of 90 GPa (vs. 83 and 73 respectively). That

gives it a specific tensile modulus close to 25% higher

than that of E-glass. Specific tensile strength is said to

be 50% better, and fatigue strength is said to be ten

times better.

AGY says S-1 HM fibre is for use in specific areas of

the blade such as the root sections and spar caps,

allowing manufacturers to reduce weight in a given

design or allow a blade to be longer for any given

weight. “Obviously the reduction in weight will affect the

lifetime of other components in the wind turbine and

the turbine structure and reduce overall production

cycles of the blades as less glass into the blade requires

less time to position and may reduce misalignment of

fabrics etc. in layup processing,” the company says.

According to the AGY, the S-1 HM glass formulation

was developed as a cheaper solution than traditional S

Glass family solutions “by closely understanding which

properties the customers would like to enhance and

which properties were available to be compromised in

this effort.” It says its scientists ensured the glass was

capable of being produced in a furnace over a long

period of time. It has melting and thermal characteris-

tics much like those of E-glass products.

Johns Manville says its StarRov 086 and 076 E-glass

rovings have recently been GL approved (Germanisches

Lloyd), which is an essential requirement for materials

to be qualified for wind blade applications.

If cost was not an issue, it is quite possible that

carbon fibres would be far more prevalent in wind

turbine blades than they are today. But carbon fibres

are still too expensive to use for the entire blade. So

they are used where they have the most impact – in

structural parts such as the spar cap system.

However, even using carbon fibre only in these areas

can bring the total weight of the blade down by 15-20%,

and possibly even more, says Phil Schell, executive vice

president, wind energy, at major carbon fibre producer

Zoltek Companies.

Schell says that to get the right bending characteris-

tics in a turbine blade using glass reinforcement alone

you need a much thicker blade than with a combination

of glass and carbon. Thicker sections result in a much

less dynamically efficient blade. “Carbon fibre provides

the blade designer with more latitude to obtain the best

aerodynamics and the best weight,” he says.

Use of carbon fibre starts to make sound sense at a

blade length of around 45m. “The longer the blade, the

more compelling is the argument for carbon fibre,”

according to Zoltek.

Two of the leading users of carbon fibres in turbine

blades are Vestas Wind Systems (headquartered in

Aarhus, Denmark) and Gamesa Technology (Zamudio,

Spain). These two companies each now have more than

seven years’ experience in using carbon fibre compos-

Blade Dynamics adopts a mix of fibresThis traffic-stopping blade made by Blade

Dynamics is 49 m long and weighs 6,150

kg. It uses a mix of glass and carbon fibre

reinforcement, and has a modular

construction that the company says

further helps keep weight down.

Blade Dynamics says it has several

blades larger than this, but they are not

yet in production. The company is in

“pre-volume” production with the D49.

“We are working on blade designs up to

100m, but for most onshore applications

for current turbines, the maximum likely

size is around 70-75m,” says David

Cripps, senior technical manager at the

blade developer.

“Our approach to making blades from

smaller mouldings allows us to use quite

different types of materials in different

parts of the blade,” Cripps says. “We are

therefore always open to new fibres and

fabrics that can reduce costs or improve

performance. Since we are specialising in

low mass blades, carbon is a particularly

important material to us. Higher

cost-specific fibre properties in the

laminate (meaning lower $/modulus or

$/unit of compressive strength) are of

great interest to us.”

❙ www.bladedynamics.com


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The US Department of Energy has obtained promising results from research into making carbon fi bres from polyethylene. Surface geometries ranging from circular to hollow gear-shaped have been achieved. It says the resulting carbon fi bre’s properties are dependent on processing conditions, “rendering them highly amenable to myriad applications.” If the technology can be commercialised, prices could fall considerably.

ites in their blades. But the number of companies

following in their wake is increasing.

Schell estimates that as many as ten leading energy

companies are now using carbon fi bres in their turbine

blades. GE started making blades containing carbon

fi bre in 2012. Even so, most turbine blades are still

made with 100% glass fi bre reinforcement. And even

some of the longest blades around – Alstom’s 70m

blade for example – have no carbon fi bre in them.

Schell says total annual wind installations amount to

around 45GW and he estimates that at least 7GW, and

possibly as much as 12GW, is generated by turbines

using blades containing carbon fi bre.

Zoltek is selling a signifi cant amount of carbon fi bre

for wind turbine blades every year, with around half of

its total revenues coming from the sector. At the

moment, Asia accounts for around 20% of carbon fi bre

consumption in wind blades and growth there is the

highest of all the world’s regions.

Chinese company GuoDian late last year installed its

fi rst 6MW turbine incorporating blades made with some

carbon fi bre. This turbine has the biggest name-plate

capacity and largest rotor swept area of any wind

turbine in mainland China. Korea is also an emerging

market for carbon fi bre.

Looking ahead, Schell says the big question is how

much the offshore wind industry will develop. He

envisages offshore turbines rated at possibly as much

as 15MW and using blades 100 m long. Most people will

agree that carbon fi bre will have to be used for such

long blades. “If the installation costs can be reduced, it

should be very big,” he predicts. “But if installation

costs stick at two to four times those of land-based

turbines, it may be a bit more diffi cult.”

But in any case, it is likely turbines will get bigger.

The norm has already shifted from under 1MW to

around 2MW and it continues to rise. At the end of

January, Gamesa announced it had begun installation of

its fi rst “G128” (128-m diameter) 5.0 MW offshore

prototype, and will start operating the turbine in the

second quarter of this year; the fi rst machines are set

to be erected at wind farms in 2014. Gamesa says it

utilises carbon fi bre in a variety of manufacturing

systems: prepreg, infusion and a mix of both.

The prototype is being installed on the island of Gran

Canaria near Spain, and Gamesa expects to start

commissioning in the second quarter, with the aim of

securing certifi cation in early 2014. The company says it

will concentrate its resources in coming years on

developing two new turbine systems, with nominal

capacity of 2.5 MW and 5.5 MW, the latter suitable for

both onshore and offshore use. It says it foresees

higher-capacity offshore turbines (7 MW-8 MW) in the

medium to long term.

Of course, Zoltek is not the only carbon fi bre supplier

with its eye on the wind turbine market. SGL is another

major player, making not only the fi bres but also, at its

SGL Rotec subsidiary, some of the biggest blades in the

world (using glass as well as carbon) for multi-mega-

watt turbines. Major chemical companies are also

increasingly involved.

Mitsubishi Rayon recently formed a business

alliance with SK Chemicals to develop and expand the

carbon fi bre prepreg business (for various applications,

not just wind) in Asian countries. Mitsubishi Rayon will

supply carbon fi bers to SK, which will use them to make

prepregs in Ulsan, Korea and Qingdao, China. Commer-

cial production of heavy-weight prepreg for wind energy

blades will begin at SK’s Ulsan plant. Other Japanese

carbon fi bre suppliers include Toho and Toray.

In 2011, Sabic took out a licence for carbon fi bre

technology from Montefi bre, which it will use it for a

new plant to be built in Saudi Arabia and scheduled to

go into commercial operation around the end of 2015.

Sabic wants to serve various fast-growing markets,

including wind energy. The two companies are also

considering a plant in Spain to be integrated into

Montefi bre’s existing acrylic fi bre production site; if

approved, this could be making product before 2015.

Last year, Dow Chemical and Turkish acrylic fi bre

company Aksa Akrilik Kimya formed DowAksa Advanced

Composites Holdings to manufacture and commercialise

PH

OTO

: OA

K R

IDG

E N

ATIO

NA

L LA

BO

RAT

OR

Y

Reinforcements | materials

carbon fi bre and derivatives. Emphasis will be on bringing

cost-effective solutions to industrial market applications

for energy, transportation, and infrastructure globally.

Aksa has been making carbon fi bre since 2009.

The cost of carbonWhat can carbon fi bre producers do to make their

products more competitive against glass? Carbon fi bre

processors are striving to reduce the price gap but they

may never close it completely. Raw material costs for

glass are measured in cents per kilo but polyacryloni-

trile for carbon fi bre costs around $2.50 per kilo. “If the

cost of acrylonitrile came down to a more reasonable

level - and we expect it to eventually – we could see a

price reduction in carbon fi bre,” says Zoltek’s Schell.

Or maybe an alternative feedstock could be found.

Last year, the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge

National Laboratory announced that a team of scientists

there demonstrated that, using a combination of

multi-component fi bre spinning and a sulphonation

technique they developed, they could make polyethylene-

base carbon fi bres with tunable porosity (see photos).

“Our results represent what we believe will one day

provide industry with a fl exible technique for producing

technologically innovative fi bres in myriad confi gura-

tions such as fi bre bundle or non-woven mat assem-

blies,” says team leader Amit Naskar. “In our lab we

have demonstrated 200 ksi [1.38 GPa] strength and 20

Msi [138 GPa] modulus and we know it can be improved

further.”

Naskar notes that “for wind energy application it

would require stronger fi bre or at least better compres-

sive resistance. Such analyses are being done and we

are cautiously optimistic.” He also says his team is

currently working with an industrial partner “to develop

the carbon fi bre beyond what we know today. The

process economy analysis is also underway. We have

seen the carbon yield can be 60% or higher, whereas

PAN gives carbon yield of only 50% or less.”

Click on the links for more information:

� www.ppg.com� www.jushi.com� www.owenscorning.com� www.agy.com� www.jmfi bers.com� www.zoltek.com� www.sglgroup.com� www.dowaksa.com� www.mrc.co.jp� www.sabic.com

On shore wind

installation by

LM Wind Power

PH

OTO

: LM

WIN

D P

OW

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Offshore blades | project study

SSP recently delivered an 83.5m prototype blade for testing. Developed for Samsung’s 7MW offshore wind turbine, the giant blade is the longest built to date. Chris Smith reports

In late October last year an 83.5m long wind turbine

blade left SSP Technology’s production unit at Kirkeby

in Denmark to begin its 170km journey by road to the

port of Esbjerg and then on by sea to Fraunhofer

Institut’s Wind Energy & Energy System Technology

(IWES) test facility at Bremerhaven in Germany.

The blade – the length of 10 London buses and at the

time of writing the world’s largest – is a joint develop-

ment between SSP Technology and Samsung Heavy

Industries. It is part of the South Korean company’s

project to develop a 7MW offshore wind turbine with a

171.2m diameter rotor.

Samsung is reported to have partnered with Korea

Southern Power Corporation to develop an 84MW

offshore installation off the coast of Jeju Island in the

Korea Straits using the new turbine design. The project,

which will use 12 of the 7MW units, is targeted for a

2015 start-up and will be South Korea’s fi rst offshore

wind energy installation.

Design and manufacturing of the prototype blade

took 15 months. The completed prototype is now

undergoing testing and evaluation at the Bremerhaven

IWES facility to prove the SPP-developed spar box and

root design. Opened in 2011, the IWES facility is

equipped with a test stand capable of handling blades

up to 90m long. It claims to be the only facility world-

wide to be able to test complete blades of this size to

the IEC 61400-23 specifi cation for full-scale structural

testing of wind turbine blades.

“With the fi rst blade in position for testing, we will

now use the time that follows for evaluation of the fi rst

part of the project. As soon as the testing of the blade is

successfully completed, we will start up the production

of the remaining three prototype blades,” says Flem-

ming Sørensen, co-founder and chief technology offi cer

at SSP Technology.

At the time of writing, SSP Technology said the blade

has passed the extreme fl ap and edge tests at IWES and

fatigue testing is underway. Fatigue tests are expected

to be completed before the end of the year (the lower

natural frequency of such long blades extends fatigue

testing durations).

SSP Technology is no newcomer to the large blade

arena, having completed many blade projects ranging

from 1.5 MW to 7.0MW turbines. It also has two turnkey

projects in progress requiring 58m and 59m blades for

Above: The

83.5m long SSP

rotor blade

arriving at

Bremerhaven

in Germany

SSP sets new record foroffshore blade at 83.5m


project study | Offshore blades

turbines of 2.3MW and 3.0MW capacity respectively, has

developed a prototype mould for a sectionalised 63m

blade design for a 4.5MW installation incorporating

carbon spar caps, and has produced the root design for

a 61m blade for installation on a 6.0MW turbine.

Development of any wind turbine blade involves

identifying the optimal combination of load capacity,

aerodynamics, structural performance and process/

material options. According to SSP Technology’s head of

blade design Claus Burchardt, a critically important

driver for development of very large blades is tooling

and testing.

“We don’t bring anything into a blade of this size

unless it has been tested and tested and tested,” he

says. “Today, these designs involve a lot of iterations.

There are compromises on aerodynamics and struc-

tures and materials and it may be that the final result is

not the best in terms of aerodynamics,” he says.

For the Samsung project SSP used aerodynamic and

3D CAD modelling to develop the blade geometry.

Loadings were determined and this data was employed

to determine a blade structure that would meet the

required 25-year fatigue lifetime and provide the

necessary static strength, buckling and deflection

resistance, and natural frequency.

Burchardt says pre-design work for a blade of this

size takes around 12-14 weeks but it is production of

the plug and mould and manufacturing of the prototype

that determines the overall project timeline.

The development team opted for a flat-back blade

design for the 83.5m long blade, incorporating flexible

tips and a carbon and glass fibre hybrid spar construc-

tion. The flat-back profile was selected for the simpli-

fied handling it offers during transportation.

The blade features the slim tip and thick, truncated

airfoil section that characterises large offshore blades,

which due to their location can operate with tip speeds

that would be considered too noisy in an onshore

environment. Burchardt says the higher tip speeds also

have an impact on blade chord and twist and special

considerations were made in the blade design to avoid

undue flutter.

Carbon fibre is used in the spar for its stiffness and

ability to keep the weight of the blade down. Placement

of the carbon fibre is based on a combination of

structural demands and complexity in the blade

geometry. No carbon is used in the tip section in order to

reduce the risk of damage caused by lightning strikes.

Lightning damage risk is increased with larger

turbine blades and in offshore installations. Using glass

reinforcement only in the tip section of the spar means

it is not necessary to incorporate a copper mesh and

there is no need to change the side or tip lightning

receptors in the Samsung design, says Burchardt.

The company has used some elements of its SSP

Load Carrying Spar concept in the blade design.

However, Burchardt says a number of new features

have been incorporated with the prime goal of improv-

ing quality management during production. In particu-

lar, the system adopted for the Samsung blade allows

for full checking of all bond-lines.

Each blade skin was produced in a female mould

using a combination of VARTM (vacuum assisted resin

transfer moulding) pre-preg and hand lamination. This

allows simple visual inspection of the construction and

Right: The giant

blade being

unloaded at the

port of

Bremerhaven

Below: The

83.5m blade

leaves the SSP

facility at

Kirkeby

Offshore blades | project study

achieves high repeatability and minimal weight

variation. The blade is assembled using automated glue

line control.

SSP uses its own root joint system, which integrates

threaded female bushings into the blade during manu-

facture. It claims this approach provides high levels of

reliability and repeatability. It also avoids the need to

retighten the blade fixings bolts after installation.

SSP Technology also developed a new leading edge

protection system for the Samsung blade that is better

able to cope with the higher tip velocities. This uses

paint beneath a protective tape system. The concept,

according to Burchardt, is that if the tape begins to peel

or suffers mechanical damage during operation the

underlying paint provides a second level of protection,

allowing repairs to be scheduled for a convenient time

to avoid unplanned turbine downtime.

Maintenance is a key consideration in off-shore

projects. This new protection system has successfully

completed helicopter testing at twice the predicted

blade tip velocities, says Burchardt, who says the

precise details of the testing speeds and materials used

cannot be disclosed at this stage.

Samsung hopes to begin testing a working prototype

7MW wind turbine at the Fife Energy Park in Scotland in

April this year. Work on production of the first three

blades for this test turbine installation is already

underway at SSP Technology, with the intention to

finalise the processes before the summer. Burchardt

says a manufacturer has also been appointed to take on

serial production of the blades and is already working

on the required technology transfer.

❙ www.ssptech.com

Above: On

route to the

Fraunhofer

IWES test

facility

See us at JEC – Booth P32


technical feature | Core materials

Resin penetration into blade core materials during infusion provides additional stiffness. Richard Evans details a series of tests carried out at Gurit to quantify the mechanical improvement and to determine if it can be modelled in blade designs

The construction of a typical resin-infused wind turbine

blade contains large areas of composite sandwich

panels with foam or balsa core materials. To aid

manufacture of the blades the core material contained

within these sandwich panels is normally machined with

a combination of holes, slits and slots to improve the

conformance of the core material to the curved blade

mould and also to allow the infusion resin to permeate

quickly and comprehensively throughout the structure.

For wind turbine blades the most widely used core

materials are PVC (polyvinylchloride), PET(polyethylene

terephthalate), SAN (styrene acrylonitrile) and end-grain

balsa. All are much more fl exible than infusion resins, as

can be seen from the shear modulus values in Table 1.

After infusion with resin, the core will be stiffened to

some extent. Whether the increased mechanical

properties of the core due to the infusion resin can be

used for the structural design calculations of the blade

is unclear, with some blade designers taking advantage

of the benefi t while others are doubtful whether the

local stiffening effect of the resin channels really

inhibits all the possible failure modes.

At Gurit, a programme of work was carried out to

measure the effect of infusion resin contained within the

core slits on the gross properties of the core material

and to determine whether any improvements in gross

properties translates into the anticipated increase in

failure loads that would be predicted by theory.

Simplistically looking at the structure of a wind

turbine blade, the load bearing areas such as the spar

cap and blade root (the orange sections in Figure 1)

require thick laminates for strength reasons, whereas

the remainder of the structure, such as the blade shells

and shear webs (indicated in green in Figure 1), is

relatively lightly loaded. The design of the more lightly

loaded panels is driven by the requirement for the thin

laminates to be stable and to not buckle under com-

pression or shear loading. This requires a high bending

stiffness. A very effi cient method of achieving this

within composites is to use a sandwich construction,

where a lightweight core material is inserted into the

centre of the laminate to increase the panel thickness

and consequently the bending stiffness with minimal

additional weight. This can inhibit the classical Euler

buckling mode of the panels as shown in Figure 2.

However, because the core is much weaker and less

Understanding core properties

Table 1: Typical mechanical properties of blade infusion resins and core materials Mechanical Properties

Density, Compressive Shear kg/m3 modulus, MPa modulus, MPa

Resin Matrix 1000-1300 2000-4000 800-1600

Foam core 45-135 40-180 13-70

Balsa core 100-250 3000-5200 150-220



Figure 3 (left) shear crimping, Figure 4 (right) skin wrinkling

stiff than the laminate skins, the design of a sandwich

panel also has to take into consideration additional

failure modes. Those normally considered during the

design of a wind turbine are shear crimping and skin

wrinkling.

� Shear crimping – If the shear stiffness of the core

material is insuffi cient a sandwich panel can buckle due

to excessive shear deformation of the core rather than

the more common Euler buckling (bending of the panel)

as can be seen in Figure 3. The shear crimping failure

load can be expressed by the following equation:

where Gc is the shear modulus of the core, tsw is the

thickness of the sandwich panel measured between the

mid planes of the skins and tc is the thickness of the

core material. It can be seen that in this failure mode

the critical property of the core is its shear modulus.

� Skin wrinkling – If the stiffness of the core is too low

there is insuffi cient lateral support for the laminate

skins which carry the bulk of the load, allowing them to

buckle independently. As the independent buckling of

the skins occurs over a relatively short length scale it is

referred to as skin wrinkling. This is shown schemati-

cally in Figure 4 and the failure stress for skin wrinkling

can be expressed as:

Where EC is the compressive modulus of the core, Esk

is the longitudinal modulus of the laminate skins and

the empirical factor C can have a value between

0.60-0.91. It can be seen that in the case of skin

wrinkling, failure is determined by the core shear

stiffness and longitudinal modulus.

The test programmeTo measure the effect of the infusion resin on the

sandwich failure modes, a number of sets of mechani-

cal tests were performed, combined with Finite Element

Analysis (FEA) and conventional engineering calcula-

tions. Firstly, the shear modulus of the infused core was

measured, using G-PET 110 (PET based) and Corecell

T400 (SAN based) cores. These two core materials have

similar mechanical properties, although the PET is

more dense. To rationalise the testing PVC was not

tested due to its relative similarity to SAN. Balsa was

excluded from the test programme because experience

shows it is generally stiff enough not to be susceptible

to shear crimping or skin wrinkling.

Secondly, test coupons were designed to fail in the

required failure mode for panels built from both plain

and slit cores. The design of the coupons was based on

theoretically derived equations, but also validated using

FEA to confi rm the anticipated failure mode. For all the

tests, a core thickness of 15mm was used with 40mm

wide specimens that contained longitudinal, full-depth

slits spaced 20mm apart (so two slits per coupon).

Coupons were designed to fail in each of the three

signifi cant failure modes.

Block shear resultsThe increase in shear strength of the core material due

to the infusion resin was quantifi ed by block shear

testing to ASTM C273. The results from the block shear

Figure 1 (left) shows high and low blade load areas

Figure 2 (right) shows a classical Euler

buckling mode

Failure Loadshear crimp = Gc. t 2

sw tc

Failure Stress, σskin wrinkling = C 3 EC GC Esk√


Core materials | technical feature

testing showed an increase in the shear stiffness for

both of the cores, with a remarkably similar increase of

69% in shear modulus due to the resin, as can be seen

in Figure 5.

One notable difference found from the testing was

the amount of resin absorbed by the slits in the two

cores. The G-PET 110 absorbed less resin into the core

slits than the T400, implying that it makes better use of

the resin to improve the shear modulus of the core. This

can be attributed to the anisotropy of the core (the cells

are elongated in the through-thickness direction, so

fewer cells are cut per unit area of slit). The two bars on

the right in Figure 5 show the increase in modulus that

would be expected if all of the resin absorbed into the

core was structurally benefi cial.

Once the shear stiffness of the infused cores was

characterised, the design of test coupons was completed

using the theoretical equations described earlier and FE

models. Coupon length and skin thickness were varied

for each coupon so as to favour one of the three failure

mode and inhibit the other two.

For all coupons, with plain and slit core, the

measured failure load was lower than predicted by FEA

or theory, reinforcing the need for safety factors in

design. However, even the largest difference between

test data and theory was smaller than the safety factors

commonly used in blade design (e.g. GL Guidelines for

Certifi cation of Wind Turbines 2010), which suggests

that those factors are adequate.

Bending buckling resultsFor the sandwich panel instability due to the bending

stiffness of the panel, the predicted improvement due to

the infused resin slits is relatively modest. Data shows

the improvement to amount to approximately 11% for

both core types and shows good correlation between the

theoretical and FE predicted failure loads (Figure 6). This

is not surprising as the bulk of the bending stiffness is

Figure 6: Bending buckling failure results

provided by the composite skins.

The test results showed a greater improvement due

to the infused resin slits with 24% and 29% improve-

ment measured for the GPET110 and T400 respectively.

These results were tempered by the test failure loads

generally being at a lower level than predicted, which

was found to be due to some initial curvature of the test

specimens as shown in Figure 7.

Shear crimping resultsFor shear crimping, the predicted failure loads calcu-

lated by the two different methods correlated very well

and predicted just over a 50% increase in the failure

load due to the infused resin slits (Figure 8).

This improvement in failure load is lower than the

69% increase in shear modulus found during the block

Figure 7: Some

initial curva-

ture was

evident in the

test specimens,

which has a

small effect on

failure load

results

testing showed an increase in the shear stiffness for

Figure 6:

provided by the composite skins. provided by the composite skins.

Figure 5: Block shear test results


shear testing due to the thick laminate skins having a

constant infl uence on the failure loads for both the plain

and infused coupons.

The measured test results were variable and

infl uenced by some of the loading faces of the coupons

not being square, but once again the testing showed

that the infused resin slits improved the failure load of

the test coupons by at least as much as the theory

predicted.

Skin wrinkling resultsFor the fi nal failure mode, skin wrinkling, FE models

predicted a higher failure load than the theoretical/

empirical equations. For the infused resin slits, FEA

predicted a 20% improvement for the infused resin slits

as well as a change in the mode shape of the failure due

to the infused resin slits restraining the defl ection of

the sandwich skins (Figure 9).

The measured improvement for the cores due to the

infused resin was found to be 23% and 88% for the

GPET 110 and T400 respectively. The much greater

improvement for the T400 was believed to be due to the

change in mode shape being more benefi cial for the

softer T400 core.

Summary and conclusionsThe testing of the two core materials showed that for

the particular core slit pattern used, a 69% improve-

ment in shear modulus was measured for both the T400

and G-PET 110 core materials. When the infused slit

core was tested, the measured improvement compared

to plain core was higher than that derived from theoreti-

cal calculations and FE models based on the increased

shear modulus. Therefore, it may well be valid to make

use of the higher tested shear modulus of infused slit

core when designing blades, allowing potential weight

and cost savings to be made providing that the usual

safety factors are applied. Gurit now plans to expand its

database to include additional core material types and

cut patterns.

Richard Evans is a design engineer at Gurit UK. Email: [email protected]� www.gurit.com

Figure 8: Shear crimping failure results Figure 9: Skin wrinkling failure results

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technical feature | Strain measurements

Operation and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind

turbines is one of the main cost drivers for offshore wind

energy, where site visits can be very expensive. At

present, OPEX cost contributes approximately 25% to the

Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE). Condition based

maintenance presents an attractive means to control the

O&M costs of wind turbines and – compared to correc-

tive maintenance – can reduce downtime, minimise the

consequences of damage, improve planning of activities,

and enable better use of resources and equipment. The

result is an overall reduction in cost.

A number of systems are already available to

monitor the condition of wind turbine components.

SCADA data, drive train monitoring, visual inspections

and oil sampling are commonly used and have all

proven their value. However, these techniques only start

to provide useful information when the components are

already exhibiting evidence of degradation or failure.

On the basis that degradation of a component is

strongly related to the loads acting on it, the Energy

Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has been

developing a fibre optic system capable of accurately

monitoring the mechanical loads in the rotor blades,

where most of the loads are introduced. It has devel-

oped a low cost method that monitors blade root

bending moments and processes the data in such a way

that turbine operators can decide if and which mainte-

nance action is required. This information can be used

to prevent failures, to postpone or prioritise visits, or to

decide on extension of the turbine life.

The specifications for the fibre optic load monitoring

system are based on ECN’s previous experience in

measurement of wind turbine characteristics and its

understanding of the shortcomings of electrical strain

measurements. The procedures for data processing,

analysis and reporting are in line with IEC standards for

wind turbines.

The system consists of:

l A patented easy to install sensor assembly with fibre

Bragg gratings, that requires no calibration, and

provides reliable, accurate and reproducible strain data

over a very long period (four assemblies per blade);

Fibre optic blade strain monitoring

Operation and maintenance is a key cost in offshore wind turbine installations. Optical strain gauge technology can allow continuous and remote monitoring of blade condition, says Luc Rademakers

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technical feature | Strain measurement

� A commercially available interrogator to read out

the data from the fi bre optic sensors;

� A measurement computer that derives load data

from strain data and combines the blade load data

with turbine PLC data;

� Wireless-LAN to enable communication between the

rotor and the turbine base;

� Software for data processing that fi lters and cleans

up the time series, categorises the data per design

load case, and provides key fi gures, statistics, and

graphs to the operator for O&M optimisation;

� Additional software that combines measured blade

root bending moments with SCADA data and also

generates loads for other main components like

drive train and tower top.

Sensor assemblyThe sensor assembly is intended to be easy to install

and replace by regular wind turbine maintenance

technicians with no special skills on fi bre optics

(plug-and-play). System installation in less than two

days was the target. Key design considerations included

the ability to accurately measure the average strain

over a well-known distance to avoid the effects of

non-homogeneities in the blade, elimination of on-site

calibration, and the ability to provide the same working

lifetime as the blade itself. The following technical

specifi cation was determined:

Strain resolution : 1 με

Strain accuracy / stability : better than 5 με

Maximum strain level : -1000 ….+1000 με

Long term drift : less than 5 µε in one year

Temperature range : -20…+40 oC

Long life time : > 107 cycles @ ±1000 µε

The resulting sensor consists of a fi bre with a Bragg

grating mounted between two studs via a carrier. The

studs are mounted at a mutual distance of 100 mm to

the inner side of the blade root. The carrier ensures

that the fi bre follows the displacements of the studs

and with this approach the strain in the blade root is

measured over a suffi cient length to avoid local effects

of the blade material.

The carrier protects the fi bre from sharp bending

and also accommodates a second Bragg grating for

temperature compensation. Since each strain sensor is

compensated by a local temperature sensor, the effects

of temperature differences over the blade can be

detected. The fi bre is manufactured with draw tower

grating technology from FBGS International and has

proven to have a very high ultimate strain (up to 6%).

The assembly can easily survive the life time of the

turbine.

Installation AspectsThe sensor is suitable for applications in both existing

turbines (retrofi t) and new blades. Since all assemblies

are calibrated after production under well-defi ned

conditions, on-site calibration after repair is not

necessary, which keeps downtime to a minimum.

Right: Strain

gauge mounted

in its protective

case.

Far right:

Detailed view

of one of the

mounting

studs.

Schematic

showing a

typical optical

strain monitor-

ing system

set-up


Strain measurement | technical feature

Frequency plots (av. power density). Example of APSD of edgewise and fl apwise bending

Technicians are provided with a dedicated battery

operated tool that allows quick mounting, accurate

mutual positioning and glueing of the studs on the

surface of the blade. Prior to bonding of the studs, the

specifi c areas of the blade are ground. An adhesive with

a short curing time (15 minutes at 20oC) and which can

survive the dynamic loads is used to secure the studs.

The complete mounting time takes just 20 minutes

including curing time.

A dedicated sensor housing is also mounted during

the curing of the stud connection. This includes a base

plate and removable cover and enables simple installa-

tion, inspection, and replacement of the sensor.

Finally, the technicians mount the carriers on the

studs, using only four bolts for rigid connection, and

plug-in the patch cables into the two E2000 connectors.

The protective covers are attached to the base plates to

shield the sensors from moisture and impact. After the

sensors are installed, the interrogator is mounted in the

hub, the PC is installed elsewhere in the turbine, and all

devices are connected with electrical cables and optical

fi bres.

The entire measurement system is designed to limit

the amount of onsite work – most of the preparatory

work can be done in the workshop - and fi rst runs have

shown that the tight installation schedule of less than

two days can be met.

Read-out Unit (Interrogator)Specifi cations for the read-out unit for wind turbine

applications are: a minimum wavelength range of

1520-1580 nm, strain resolution of 1 με, strain accu-

racy/stability of better than 5 με, sensor readout

frequency of greater than16 Hz, and ability to support

eight Fibre Bragg Gratings per blade (four strain and

four temperature).

Various suppliers provide interrogators that meet

these general specifi cations. At present ECN uses the

WindMeter from FibreSensing. This device is based on

WDM technology for readout of the sensors and is

especially designed for wind turbine applications. It has

three channels, is available in a robust housing and has

a minimal power consumption. The maximum frequency

readout frequency for the sensors is 100 Hz.

Software for Data Analysis and ReportingECN’s software automatically analyses the large

amounts of raw data and provides information to

operators about accumulated loads, extreme loads,

dynamic behaviour and vulnerable spots. The software

contains an algorithm that fi rst cleans and fi lters the

data and removes spikes.

The software detects the load cases (operational

modes) present in the time series, possibly splits the 10

minute time series into single mode fi les, and stores

the data with statistics of the single mode fi les into the

relevant database fi eld.

The identifi cation of the load cases is performed

based on turbine PLC signals such as power, nacelle

wind speed, rotational speed, etc. ECN has also

developed software that reads out the database

contents and generates reports, plots, and key fi gures

that the operator can use to make sound decisions for

operation and maintenance. The data processing

software contains two main processes:

� An on-line module which continuously collects and

processes the relevant data from the measurement

system and subsequently stores the results in a

database;

� A reporting module, which provides online access to

the database and generates periodic reports.

Both processes function independently with a

database as the interface between the two parts. Once

the measurement campaign is running, the software

a minimal power consumption. The maximum frequency

the measurement campaign is running, the software

Comparison of 10 minute values for optical (red) and electrical (blue) strain measurement, with difference (green)


technical feature | Strain measurement

determines every 10 minutes which load cases have

occurred (normal operation, start-up, shutdown,

emergency shutdown, etc.) and fi lters out erroneous

data. Then the software determines statistical data,

updates the load spectra plots, and analyses the

frequencies. Finally, the software is able to generate

monthly reports which provide information about

captured data, deviations with respect to the long term

statistics, and comparison with fi nger print data.

User experienceThe fi bre optic load monitoring system has been

developed as a device to measure blade root bending

moments in operating wind turbines over a long period

of time with high accuracy and long term stability. It has

been operating for several years in one of ECN’s test

turbines and many fi eld and laboratory tests have been

carried out and comparisons have been made with

strain gauge measurements.

While the ECN system can be supplied as a complete

solution, the component parts – including the software

– can also be supplied for integration into an existing

monitoring system.

The system has shown to be stable over a long

period of time and operate within the required accura-

cies. Fatigue and ultimate tests have shown that the

sensor system meets the design specifi cations. The

software for data analysis has also proven to work well.

ECN is about to install the fi rst system in a commer-

cially available turbine.

Compared to electrical strain guages and patches

with optical sensors that are glued directly onto the

blade (or are integrated with the blade), the ECN sensor

design has a number of benefi ts:

� Mounting the sensor assembly is on two studs

positioned 10 cm apart means measured strains

avoid the local infl uences of in-homogeneities, small

gaps, and/or stress concentrations that can occur in

reinforced plastics.

� Sensors installed during blade manufacturing can be

removed during blade transport and installation to

minimize the risk of damage.

� Installation of the sensors does not require any

changes to the blade manufacturing process,

allowing it to be offered as a simple option to clients.

� The optical-based solutions is insensitive to EMC and

can be used in fl ammable and explosive conditions.

Click on the links for more information:

� www.ecn.nl� www.fbgs.com� www.fi bersensing.com

About the author:Luc Rademakers is manager of operations and condition monitoring in the Wind Energy division of the Nether-lands-based research centre ECN. Tel: +31 224 56 4943, Email: [email protected]� www.ecn.nl

Equivalent loads: Example of plots with the equivalent load as a function of wind speed(10 minute average) during normal operation

Illustration

showing the

location of key

components in

ECN’s test

turbine


Conference report | feature

Investment activity in wind energy may have slowed but technical

innovations continue. We report from the Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture

conference, held in Germanyat the end of last year

PH

OTO

: LO

ND

ON

AR

RAY

The wind energy industry has certainly felt the impact of

the global downturn, and this has had an inevitable

impact on investment funding and government

incentives in all regions of the world. However, it was

clear from the presentations and discussion at AMI’s

third Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference in

Dusseldorf, Germany, last year that innovation has not

slowed. Blade manufacturers continue to develop the

new technologies and designs that will help operators

cut investment and operating costs.

LM Wind Power director of system engineering Lars

Fuglsang described the company’s latest GloBlade

concept as “a new way to do business” in the wind

energy market. The idea behind the GloBlade concept is

to offer a highly customised blade design built around a

set of standardised elements. “Parts of the blade are

standard – the structure – but parts can be customised.

In the tip we can change the design and the aerodynamic

features,” he said.

Fugslang said as much as 85% of the material and

tooling is reusable across variants, which enables

economies of scale to be realised while still allowing

considerable customisation potential.

The GloBlade concept is already available for the

1.5MW segment in the GloBlade 1 and GloBlade 2

variants. Fugslang said the company is now extending

the concept into the 3MW range. The 58.7m GloBlade 3

LM58.7P and 61.2m GloBlade 3L LM61.2P are designed

to fi t a broad range of 3.0MW turbines and are claimed

to be able to improve annual energy production by as

much as 14% over standard designs. Fugslang said

serial production of the 58.7m GloBlade 3 will com-

mence later this year.

Siemens Wind Power’s rotor design team leader

Peter Fugslang said the company’s largest installed

system to date – the 6.0MW SWP-154 – has a rotor

The forum for blade innovation


feature | Conference report

diameter of 154m, dwarfi ng the wing span of an Airbus

A380 aircraft. “There should be no doubt that it is the

growth in size that is driving our business today,” he said.

The driver for increased size is the requirement to

maximise annual energy production. Fugslang said a

10% increase in rotor area approximates to a 12%

increase in energy generation (Figure 2). However,

other factors also come into play with larger blades,

such as the potential for increased noise.

Fugslang said noise increases with rotor diameters

and tip speeds, effectively imposing limits on annual

energy production (AEP). It is a critical issue to master,

he said, as engineering a 1dB(A) reduction in noise is

worth 3-4% in AEP assuming the rotor diameter is

increased to the same rated power (Figure 1).

Developments in blade design over the past 30 years

have focused on blade shape. Solidity has reduced from

around 10% to 5% while planform design has evolved

from a linear chord to a non-linear load optimised style.

Airfoils are also now wind industry specifi c. Fugslang

said attention is now being focused on add-ons such as

tip winglets, inboard and outboard vortex generators,

modifi ed trailing edges and spoilers.

A project carried out at Sandia National Laborato-

ries in the US to develop a theoretical, publicly-availa-

ble 100m blade design was detailed by Dr Todd Griffi th,

offshore wind technical lead within the organisation’s

Wind and Water Power Technologies Department. The

SNL100-00 project is now at a stage where the develop-

ment team is beginning to look at weight optimisation

and compliance with GL and IEC certifi cations.

The current non-optimised SNL100-00 design is

based on all glass fi bre reinforcement with three shear

webs and weighs in at 114 tonnes for a three blade

rotor. Griffi th said the study has shown that fl utter could

be a real problem in the future with large blade designs,

prompting it to consider a lighter design with some

carbon fi bre content. It has modelled SNL100-01

variants with carbon in the spar cap only, in the trailing

edge only and in both spar cap and trailing edge.

Estimated rotor set weight could be reduced to as little

as 78 tonnes, he said, although more work is required

before a design can be fi nalised (Figure 3).

Gamesa Innovation’s G128 modular blade project

manager Eneko Sanz Pascual spoke about this latest

addition to the company’s G10X portfolio. The 62.5m

long G128 blade is a modular design produced in a

combination of glass and carbon fi bre and is intended

for use on the company’s latest 4.5MW turbine.

The sectionalised design is said to keep manufactur-

ing cost down while simplifying transportation. Gamesa

has selected a bolted joint over the alternative of bonding

because, while heavier, it is more robust and can be

easily assembled on site. Sanz Pascual said that the

additional cost of the connection – in the region of 10% of

the total blade cost – can be offset by transport savings.

Prototype testing of the G128 design was completed

in 2011 and the fi rst wind farm is currently under

construction. Sanz Pascual said the G128 design is

around 40% lighter than current multi-megawatt

blades, weighing in at around 15 tonnes. He said the

company expects to be producing between 50 and 60

G128 rotor sets a month once full production is

underway.

Figure 1: Annual Energy Production versus Sound Power Level

Source: Siemens Wind Power

Figure 2: Annual Energy Production versus Rotor Diameter

Source: Siemens Wind Power

Figure 3:

Design

scorecard for

different 100m

blade construc-

tions – perfor-

mance and

weight (based

on three blade

rotor set)

Source: SandiaNational Laboratories



Ice build up on turbine blades in cold climates is a

major issue for the industry. Nordex Energy’s deputy

head of blade system department, central engineering,

Dr Astrid Löwe spoke about the company’s experience

with electric de-icing technology, which it has been

investigating since 2010. The pro-active system

continually monitors icing conditions, using energy from

the turbine itself to heat the aerodynamically relevant

blade surfaces only as required.

In tests carried out over the winters of 2010/11 and

2011/12 at three sites in Sweden, Löwe said turbines

fi tted with anti-icing turbine technology were shown to

generate considerably more energy during the winter

months than reference turbines without any de-icing

technology. In one example, the gains in monthly energy

production for December 2010 and January and

February of 2011 were measured at 126, 43 and 83%

respectively (Figure 4).

However, Löwe pointed out that the ability to realise

these gains in practice depends on the turbine location.

The anti-icing technology does not keep the complete

blade surface free of ice, which means that falling ice

will still present a safety risk if turbines are located in

areas with nearby human activity, such as within ski

resorts.

Lightning strike presents a real risk of damage to

wind turbines and this risk is increasing with the

introduction of high performance materials such as

carbon fi bre. Manchester University knowledge

transfer fellow Dr Vidyadhar Peesapati said that a

typical 160m diameter turbine tip is likely to be hit by

lightning 1.4 times a year, even in a low lightning risk

area such as the North Sea.

Peesapati said current lightning protection systems

based on the placement of receptors (which channel

streamers to ground) are effective in glass reinforced

blades but that effectiveness reduces with the introduc-

tion of conductive materials, whether that is in the form

of carbon fi bre laminates, anti-icing systems or radar

cross section (RCS) reduction technologies.

“The addition of conductive materials within the

blade changes the electric fi eld and puts the rest of the

blade at risk as the conductive areas begin to emit

streamers,” he said. Overcoming this challenge will

require very careful design of the receptor system and

careful consideration before placing conductive

materials in the tips, he said.

Leading edge erosion is also a major contributor to

blade operating and maintenance costs. According to

3M’s business manager for wind energy Christian

Claus, leading edge damage can result in an up to 20%

decline in energy output.

The company’s latest development for the wind

market is a new PU-based coating. The two-component

brush-on W4600 product has been developed to meet

the demands of the offshore sector, where tip speeds

are increasing (tip speed is a key factor in leading edge

erosion). Claus said rain erosion tests (125-150m/s

Figure 4: Real energy production per week with and without anti-icing technology

Source: Nordex Energy


feature | Conference report

Figure 6: Estimated manufacturing cost breakdown for a typical 55m blade manufactured using current technology

Source:Fraunhofer IWES

rotational speeds and 1-2mm droplet size) have shown

no breakthrough on the W4600 after 9 hours, while

typical topcoats and leading edge coatings show

breakthrough at 60-90 mins.

TPI Composites has been part of a US Department of

Energy funded project to explore advanced automated

manufacturing processes with a target of cutting cycle

time by 35%. Principal engineer and senior director of

innovation and technology Stephen Nolet said wind

blade manufacturing did not justify the investment in

automated pattern cutting and layup technology that is

commonplace in the aerospace sector because of the

much lower value of the products – he estimated blade

values in the $5-10 per pound compared to $200-700

per pound in aerospace.

However, Nolet said there was still considerable

scope to make savings in the downstream activities. The

Advanced Manufacturing Initiative (AMI) project is

looking at prefabrication of elements such as trailing

edges, use of laser-assisted reinforcement placement

tools (developed at Iowa State University and explained

in detail by Dr Frank Peters at the conference),

improved heating technology and use of rotating carts

to simplify blade handling. To date, the team has

realised a 36% reduction in cycle time by applying these

concepts in production of 9m blades (Figure 5). Iowa

State University also contributed its expertise in

ultrasonic evaluation techniques to the AMI pro-

gramme.

Automation is also a key focus in the work carried

out at the Fraunhofer IWES research institute in

Germany. Group manager Florian Sayer presented

some IWES estimates for the cost of manufacturing a

55m blade using typical current manufacturing

methods. These show that labour accounts for more

than 40% of the estimated €157,000 total manufactur-

ing cost of the blade (Figure 6).

Sayer said IWES had come to the same conclusion as

TPI Composites that automated fi bre placement was

not an affordable option for blade surface production

but could possibly be utilised in spar cap production.

The latest fi ndings in a study of compatibility

Figure 5:

Scorecard

showing

processing

cycle time

reductions

achieved within

the US

Department of

Energy

supported

Advanced

Manufacturing

Initiative

Source: TPI Composites



between the component materials used in the wind

blade sector were presented by Dr Gergor Daun, global

business manager epoxy systems at BASF. In one

chemical compatibility study, it was found that the

epoxy resin coloured PVC foam core materials but had

no effect on balsa, PET or SAN. Daun says this was

attributed to formation of conjugated double bonds at

the surface. The trials also showed how the epoxy to

fi bre bond could be optimised by sizing selection and

how temperature could have a signifi cant impact on gel

coat adhesion.

As the size and mass of wind turbine blades increases

so does the loading on the root joint. Owens Corning’s

global wind energy technical marketing leader Georg

Adolphs explained how its latest Ultrablade E-glass fi bre

fabrics could be used in root designs to improve

performance and reduce cost. He cited the example of a

60m blade design study where redesigning the root

around the Ultrablade fabrics rather than the current

Advantex type had resulted in a 12% material saving.

Core systems developer 3A Composites presented

data on the low resin uptake on its latest PET foam

product. Director of product management for the

composite cores business Philipp Angst said absorption

of resin into the core during the infusion process was

essential to achieve a strong bond, but high absorption

rates mean increased material cost. He said the com-

pany’s Airex T92 SealX products provide a typical resin

uptake of around 0.5 kg/m2 compared to around 1.0 kg/m2

for PVC core foam (60 kg/m3), 1.6 kg/m2 for PET core (100

kg/m3) and around 2.4 kg/m2 for balsa (Figure 7).

The conference closed with a look at some of the

latest thinking in blade recycling. Professor Henning

Albers, institute director at the Bremen University of

Applied Science, is studying end of life options for wind

turbine blades, which include reconditioning and re-use

for intact blades and energy recovery with residual

waste in an incinerator, for example in cement kilns.

He said increasingly strict waste management regula-

tions, together with growing volumes of blades reaching

the end of their service life, would drive demand for an

effective waste solution (Figure 8). He highlighted the

ReFiber process as one option. This involves crushing

the material to 25cm pieces, pyrolysis at 600˚C, and

separation into glass fi bre and fi lling material. The

recovered glass shows a 50% loss of strength but is

suitable for use in insulation.

The Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture 2012 conference took place in Dusseldorf on 27-29 November 2012. The full conference proceedings can be purchased from the PID bookstore here.

The next Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference will take place on 3-5 December 2013 at the Maritim Hotel in Dusseldorf, Germany. More information can be found at the conference website.

AMI is currently inviting presentation submissions for the 2013 conference (the deadline is 17 May 2013). For more information about speaking at the event, contact Dr Sally Humphreys: [email protected].

Figure 7: Core

resin uptake

comparisons

for a 47m rotor

blade – Airex

SealX PET

against

standard

alternatives

Source: 3A

Composites


product. Director of product management for the contact Dr Sally Humphreys: [email protected].

Figure 8: Wind turbine material mass available for recycling in Germany (assuming 10-15 year repowering cycle)

Source: Wessels (2011), University of Applied Science, Bremen


show preview | JEC Composites Europe

The world’s biggest composites show takes place in Paris, France on 12-14 March this year. JEC Composites Europe is expected to draw more than 30,000 visitors to Pavilion 1 at the Porte de Versailles Paris Expo centre. Wind energy is a key part of the show, accounting for around 10% of exhibitors. Over the next two and a half pages we take a look at some of the innovations on show for this demanding industrial sector.

Airtechwww.airtech.luAirtech Advanced Materials Group will show its Vac-Ric

LT and HT resin infusion connectors, which are

designed to provide effective through-bag connection to

the vacuum manifold and resin feed lines for low and

high temperature applications.

The company will also show its resin infusion

adapter and Sil-Tube fl exible heat and chemical

resistant tubing products, together with the latest

additions to its Airseal sealant tape range. These

include the Airseal 2 ST cost optimised tape for use at

up to 150˚C and the Airseal 2 HT Twin tape for double

bagging applications.

Dowwww.dow.comwww.dowaksa.comDow Formulated Systems will introduce an enhanced

infusion system with a new adhesion technology as part

of its Airstone product line for wind turbine blade

composites. The company will also promote the range

of carbon fi bre products and derivatives that have come

out of the DowAksa joint venture, which the company

set up last year with Turkish acrylic fi bre producer Aksa

Akrilik Kimya Sanayii.

Duratek www.duratek.com.trTurkish resin producer Duratek will present its new

GL-approved epoxy lamination system for infusion

production of turbine blades.

The 1200 system is said to be the result of three

years of development. With a room temperature

viscosity of 300-350 mPas and low exotherm, the resin

system is said to be well suited to production of spar

caps and thicker laminates.

The system is designed for room temperature curing

applications. However, the company says it exceeds the

industry standard HDT and Tg values when post-cured

at 60-70˚C.

Extended Structured Compositeswww.escomposite.comGermany-based Extended Structured Composites (ESC)

will display its 3D-Core product line, which it claims can

help to improve resin fl ow and optimise structural

stability and weight of composite parts.

Available as an expanded PET, XPS, PUR and SAN

foam, 3D-Core foams incorporate a hexagonal module

structure that allows the materials to easily follow

contours in the mould. The company claims the struc-

tured foam core materials can provide a 50% increase in

Composites blow into Paris


JEC Composites Europe | show preview

The world’s biggest composites show takes place in Paris, France on 12-14 March this year. JEC Composites Europe is expected to draw more than 30,000 visitors to Pavilion 1 at the Porte de Versailles Paris Expo centre. Wind energy is a key part of the show, accounting for around 10% of exhibitors. Over the next two and a half pages we take a look at some of the innovations on show for this demanding industrial sector.

production effi ciency and 250% gain in shear strength.

Guritwww.gurit.comGurit will be promoting its latest G-PET FR fi re

retardant PET foam and its new core sealing technology

for balsa – Uvotech. This is said to signifi cantly reduce

resin uptake while retaining core-laminate adhesion

and durability. The company will also show its sealing

technology for PET.

Gurit will display its Airstream specialised prepreg,

which has been developed to enable economical

manufacturing of very high quality unidirectional carbon

spar caps without the need for a temperature controlled

factory. Other new introductions include the company’s

next generation of automotive materials for high volume

body panel production, which use rapid press moulding

techniques to produce a Class-A fi nish capable of high

temperature paint-line processing.

Hexcelwww.hexcel.comHexcel will display its HexPly M79 prepreg, which is

designed to provide wind blade manufacturers currently

using infusion techniques with a simple option to

transfer to prepreg production methods.

HexPly M79 has been developed to meet industry

demands for a lower temperature curing prepreg that

cures more quickly than products currently on the

market. A number of cure cycle options are possible

with HexPly M79. For a very low temperature cure, a

cycle of 10 hours at 70°C is recommended. This

enables lower cost tooling and associated materials to

be used and results in energy savings, creating a highly

competitive cost environment.

If a more rapid cure cycle is required then HexPly

M79 cures in 8 hours at 75°C and in only 4-6 hours at

80°C. This provides a signifi cant time-saving over

established industry prepregs, where a typical cure

cycle for an 80°C curing resin matrix is 10 hours.

According to Hexcel, using the HexPly M79 product

also means less risk of an exothermic reaction. It says

the new grade provides a 60% reduction over its

standard M9G prepregs. However, the new prepreg is

still based on the standard epoxy chemistry that has

over 20 years of proven performance in wind blade

manufacture. HexPly M79 also has a very long outlife at

room temperature of at least 2 months.

The low cure temperature of HexPly M79 also means

the system is compatible with any liquid epoxy resin

used for infusion processing, allowing prepreg and

infusion processes to be combined in the same blade.

The ultimate performance for wind blades is achieved

when HexPly M79 is reinforced with carbon fi bre. For

the next generation of super-size blades, Hexcel offers

patented carbon UD materials that allow very thick

carbon UD laminates to be manufactured by vacuum bag

technology. Hexcel’s HexPly carbon fi bre UD prepregs

with Grid Technology have been certifi ed by Germanis-

cher Lloyd for use in wind energy applications.

Johns Manvillewww.jm.comThe newest introduction on the Johns Manville stand

will be its latest glass products for reinforcement of

thermoplastic composites. StarRov RXN886 has been

developed specifi cally for in-mould caprolactum

polymerisation processes.

The company will also present its StarRov 076 glass,

which was granted GL approval for wind energy

applications last year. Manufactured by direct winding of

JEC 2013Dates: 12-14 March 2013

Venue: Pavilion 1, Paris Expo,

Place de la Porte de Versailles, 75015 Paris, France

Hours: 09:00 – 18:00 daily

Admission: Daily ticket advance purchase €20 (€35 on site).

Multi-day ticket advance purchase €35 (€55 on site)

Organiser: JEC Composites. Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 01

Website: www.jeccomposites.com

PARlS MARCH l2, l3, l4,20l3

show preview | JEC Composites Europe

continuous glass fibres and carrying a silane sizing, the

roving is said to provide very good fatigue performance

in both epoxy and polyester matrix applications.

Scott Baderwww.scottbader.comScott Bader will be launching a number of new gelcoat

products at JEC Europe, including its ultralow styrene

content Crystic Ecogel S1PA spray product. This is

claimed to reduce total styrene emissions by more than

55%.

The new gelcoat has been tested by Denmark’s LM

Wind Power, which uses the system at its production

plants around the world. “We have seen a major

reduction of more than 50% in styrene emissions during

spray gelcoat application, without any loss of perfor-

mance and using the same standard spray equipment

and catalysts as with conventional gelcoats,” says LM

Wind Power global equipment engineering senior

manager Dan Lindvang.

The company will also show its Crestapol acrylic

resin range, including the 1250LV grade developed to

function well with standard sized carbon fibre reinforce-

ment. This will be shown as part of a wind blade

component.

Other new introductions include the vinyl ester

Crystic Gelcoat 15PA spray tooling gelcoat, which offers

superior gloss retention. The 15PA is the latest addition

to Scott Bader’s proven Crystic matched tooling system

and offers mould makers a brush tooling gelcoat option,

a VE skincoat and a choice of standard or rapid tooling

back up resins.

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COMPOSITE MATERIALS, DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE AND FAILURE IN SERVICE


products | Additives

Extended work time epoxy eases infusion processing

rEsin systEms

CtG to make AGy’s s-1 Hm wind rovingsrEinforCEmEnt

Epotec Infusion system

YDL590/TH7675 is a new

introduction from the epoxy

resins division of

Thailand’s Aditya Birla

Chemicals that the company

says is designed to ease

production of today’s larger

wind turbine blades.

The new system is based

on the company’s Epotec

YDL590 resin and TH7657

curing agent and is said to offer

an optimum combination of

process and performance

properties. The new system is

approved by Germanischer

Lloyd.

Benefits of the resin system

include a high degree of

latency at ambient condi-

tions, with a resulting slow

viscosity development,

extended working time and

lower exothermic heat of

reaction.

The system also provides

a faster strength build up

during cure. This opens the

way to processing cycle time

reductions, according to the

company.

Aditya Birla claims that,

due to the combination of

being able to start mould

heating immediately after

infusion is complete and the

potential to cure at higher

temperatures, manufactur-

ers can reduce cycle times by

20-25% when the new resin

system is used in conjunction

with the company’s YD1533G/

TH7257G structural adhesive.

According to the company,

the slow viscosity build up

also eases penetration of the

reinforcement, reducing the

chance of defects such as dry

areas or wrinkling.

❙ www.epotec.info

intelligentapproach tomeasuringfrom GLPs

CErtifiCAtion

Global Lightning Protection

Services (GLPS) says its

GLPS-ILMS standalone

lightning CMS system is

capable of measuring

lightning currents in up to

three positions (current

paths) and can process the

lightning current waveform

into peak current, maximum

rise time, specific energy and

charge content.

The compact system – the

processor unit measures just

400mm by 400mm by 200mm

and weighs 5kg – is simple to

integrate into the rotor blade

and provides operation over a

temperature range from

-25˚C to +55˚C.

The system measures the

entire waveform - including

first, subsequent and long

duration stroke – on each

channel independently.

Storage is provided for the

previous 100 events.

❙ www.glps.dk

US-based AGY has signed an

agreement with China’s CTG/

Taishan Fiberglass under

which the Chinese firm will

manufacture AGY’s S-1 HM

high performance glass

rovings for wind energy

applications.

The S-1 HM roving products

will be sold by both compa-

nies. AGY will focus on the US

and European markets while

CTG/Taishan Fiberglass will

sell to the Asia Pacific and

African regions.

S-1 HM rovings are said to

provide higher tensile modulus

– 90GPa - and enhanced

fatigue performance compared

to traditional E-glass products.

E-glass. The S-1 UHM ultra

high modulus glass is

manufactured using the

company’s Modular Direct

Melt technology and is

claimed to deliver enhanced

modulus without sacrificing

performance.

❙ www.agy.com❙ www.ctfg.com

According to AGY, the products

are specifically aimed at use in

areas of the blade requiring

enhanced performance, such

as spars and spar caps and

blade root sections.

l AGY also recently launched a

glass fibre with a tensile

modulus of 99GPa, some 40%

above that of traditional

3A Composites: Core productsEurope / Middle East / India / Africa:

Airex AG 5643 Sins, Switzerland Tel +41 41 789 66 00 Fax +41 41 789 66 [email protected]

North America / South America:

Baltek Inc.High Point, NC 27261, USA Tel +1 336 398 1900 Fax +1 336 398 1901 [email protected]

Asia / Australia / New Zealand:

3A Composites (China) Ltd.201201 Shanghai, China Tel +86 21 585 86 006 Fax +86 21 338 27 [email protected]

www.corematerials.3AComposites.com

New AIREX® T92 Seal Save resin to the Max!

X

Find out how Airex T92 SealX PET core foams can help you reduce resin usage during infusion. This two page brochure compares resin uptakes and penetration of conventional and SealX PET core materials.

� Click here to download

GLPS: Lightning protection

EWEA 2013 LIGHTNING PROTECTION AS A NATURAL PART OF WIND TURBINE DESIGNS

Søren Find Madsen, Kim Bertelsen & Thomas Holm Krogh

Global Lightning Protection Services A/S, HI Park 445, 7400 Herning, Denmark

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: +45 6081 5049

Summary The present paper discusses the necessity of including lightning protection of wind turbines in the early design phases, to ensure a robust and functional system throughout the lifetime of the turbine. In this sense it is important to emphasize that a modern wind turbine should withstand lightning strikes without suffering unacceptable damages. The paper presents different topics as risk assessment, engineering design tools and lightning verification tests, all to be employed in the natural and proactive wind turbine design process.

1 INTRODUCTION

Lightning damages to wind turbines are adding a significant cost to the O&M concerning blades, the nacelle, the overall control system etc. However, if the lightning protection standards as IEC 61400-24 [1] are applied correctly, and the solutions are engineered according to the most recent findings damages should not occur or be accepted.

The performance criterion is that the

turbine should be able to receive high level lightning strikes without structural damage that would impair the functioning of the system. The turbine should be continuous operational until next scheduled maintenance and inspection, meaning that a lightning strike should not require special inspection and repair.

Initially a risk assessment of the lightning

exposure and consequences to the wind turbine is conducted, which defines the baseline for the protection system. Typically lightning protection level one (LPL1) is chosen, which then sets the design inputs in terms of lightning frequency, lightning attachment points, lightning strike immunity, requirements to electronic systems, lifetime issues related to lightning damages etc.

Once the exposure rate and the overall

expectations to the turbine performance are fixed, the protection measures can be designed into the mechanical and the electrical design concept of blades, nacelle, tower installation, earthing systems, etc. This requires that the responsible lightning

protection engineers adapt the requirements and restrictions posed for mechanical and structural reasons, but also that mechanical design engineers and engineers working with traditional power and control system installations realise that lightning strikes are a real threat against safe and reliable operation.

The final step to ensure an efficient and

robust design is the verification process, where tests are required both for certification purposes and to confirm the intended design ideas and principles. The standard IEC 61400-24 [1] concerning lightning protection of wind turbines recommends a set of verification tests, comprising High Voltage strike attachment tests, High Current physical damage tests along with several others, which are all used to stress the construction in a similar manner as found during real lightning exposure.

The overall aim is of course not only to

obtain a certificate from one of the independent certifiers, but to design a rigid and efficient system that will in fact stay in operation for as many years as guaranteed by the manufacturer. Lightning occurrence can no longer be treated as force majeure, since lightning strikes are something that is to be foreseen and that should be expected to all modern wind turbines. Lightning is something governed by laws of physics and described by engineering tools, just as structural strength and fatigue for the mechanical parts of the wind turbine.

This 10-page technical article explains how to integrate effective lightning protection into wind turbine blades. It discusses risk assessment, engineering design tools and verifi cation tests.


This month’s freebrochure downloads

Simply click on the brochure cover or link to download a PDF of the full publication

If you would like your brochure to be included on this page, please contact Claire Bishop. [email protected]. Tel: +44 (0)20 8686 8139

Aditya Birla: Resin systems 2013 conference update

This three-page document takes the reader through the full range of Aditya Birla Epotec resin systems for the wind energy market, including tooling, gel coat, resin infusion,adhesive and hand-lay products.


The 4th Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany, on 3-5 December 2013. Download the conference fl yer to fi nd out more about speaking at or attending the event.


Epotec® epoxy systems for Wind Energy Applications are designed to meet stringent process and

application requirements and offer a unique combination of performance and cost effectivenes. The

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sisting of Tooling Resin Systems, Gel Coats, Resin Infusion System, Resin Systems for Prepegs,

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Epotec Systems for Wind Energy Applications

Tooling Resin Systems

Epotec® Tooling Systems allow manufacturing of customized tools for specific uses and include systems suitable for hand

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Versatile to di�erent processes and blade designs.

Provide optimum combination of properties under static & dynamic loading conditions.

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Designed to manage process and environmental variations.

Gel Coats

Epotec System Mixing

Ratio1

TFT2 Tg3 Features

YDGC 1651/TH 8266 100:45 2 - 3 65 - 75 Clear, moderate reactivity

YDGC 1651 / TH 8267 100:45 4 - 5 65 - 75 Clear, slow reactivity

YDGC 1652 / TH 8268

(pigmented)

100:15 1 - 2 125 - 135 Fast reactivity – designed for repair applications

YDGC 1653 / TH 8269

(pigmented)

100:40 2 - 3 80 - 90 Cycloaliphatic, moderate reactivity and temperature

resistance


Ratio1

TFT2 Tg3 Features

YDGC 1651/TH 8266 100:45 2 - 3 65 - 75 Clear, moderate reactivity.

YDGC 1651 / TH 8267 100:45 4 - 5 65 - 75 Clear, slow reactivity.

YDGC 1652 / TH 8268

(pigmented)

100:15 1 - 2 125 - 135 Fast reactivity – designed for repair applications.

YDGC 1653 / TH 8269

(pigmented)

100:40 2 - 3 80 - 90 Cycloaliphatic, moderate reactivity and temperature

resistance.

1Part by weight (pbw), 2Tack Free Time @ 25oC in hours, 3Glass transition temperature oC

Epotec® Surface / Gel Coat Systems are designed to provide optimum tack free time and excellent surface finish after curing

process.

1Part by weight (pbw), 2 Brookfield Viscosity @ 25oC, 3 Glass transition temperature oC


Ratio1

Mix viscosity2 Tg3

Features

YD595/TH7295 100:30 500 - 1000 115 - 125 Moderate reactivity and temperature resistance

YD535LV/TH7353 100:25 350 - 400 130 - 140 Moderate reactivity, high temperature resistance

YDL574/TH7363

(RI: <20m. molds)

100:30 250 - 300 115 - 125 Low viscosity, Moderate reactivity and temperature

resistance

YDL594/TH7365

(RI: >20 m. molds)

100:35 200 - 300 115 - 125 Low viscosity, Slow reactivity and moderate

temperature resistance


Ratio1

Mix viscosity2 Tg3

Features

YD595/TH7295 100:30 500 - 1000 115 - 125 Moderate reactivity and temperature resistance

YD535LV/TH7353 100:25 350 - 400 130 - 140 Moderate reactivity, high temperature resistance

YDL574/TH7363

(RI: <20m. molds)

100:30 250 - 300 115 - 125 Low viscosity, Moderate reactivity and temperature

resistance

YDL594/TH7365

(RI: >20 m. molds)

100:35 200 - 300 115 - 125 Low viscosity, Slow reactivity and moderate

temperature resistance

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3-5 December 2013 –Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf, Germany

HEADLINE SPONSOR

The international conference on MW wind blades looking at design,composites manufacturing and performance


The wind power industry is expanding into new countries across the globe and new companies are moving into this marketplace. The key to viability is highly efficient electricity generation, long-term integrity and good economics. These factors are dependent on the blade design and structure.

The 4th AMI international Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference will again provide the forum to debate the latest designs, manufacturing technologies and performance of wind turbine blade composite structures, including causes of failure and solutions to challenges such as lightning strike, icing, and offshore sea exposure.

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture 2013 will bring together energy companies, wind turbine producers, blade manufacturers, design engineers, composites manufacturing experts, researchers, developers, materials and equipment suppliers to discuss the technology and costs of producing reliable year-round wind energy, focusing on the key component, the rotor. ATTending, exhiBiTing And SponSoringIf you would like to attend this highly valued learning and networking event, or wish to book a tabletop exhibition space or sponsor the conference, please contact Rocio Martinez, [email protected] Tel: +44 117 924 9442.

The cAll for pAperS iS noW openWould you like to speak at this leading industry event? The call for papers is now open. If you would like to give a 25 minute presentation, please send a short summary and title for your topic to Dr Sally Humphreys, [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is 17th May 2013. It is free to attend the conference as a speaker.

Previous attendees at this event include senior specialists from across the wind power sector. click here to find out more

FOR mORE INFORmAtION AbOuttHE cONFERENcE, cLIck HERE


Also sponsored by: Media supporter:

Advertise in this magazineAMI: Plastics data specialists

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing is a new digital magazine fromApplied Market Information (AMI), the company behind the highly successful Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing series of international conferences

About Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing magazineFEBRUARY 2013

INNOVATIONS IN MATERIALS

PERFORMANCE MONITORING

TRENDS IN REINFORCEMENTS

UPDATE: BLADE PRODUCTION

Reaching a global marketThe brand new Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing magazine is distributed electronically to a global audience of 7,394 key decision makers in the international wind turbine blade industry and supply chain. This circulation includes all participants in AMI’s 2010, 2011 and 2012 Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing conferences, plus our extensive database of senior industry decision makers. Readers can access the magazine free-of charge and are encouraged to share it with colleagues, further enhancing this highly targeted circulation.

Anyone that has attended one of AMI’s Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing conferences will be fully aware of the quality and international nature of the audience they attract. This international attendance underline AMI’s understanding of this marketplace and the strength of our database of key players across the entire supply chain.

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing magazine will provide a unique and highly cost effective means to promote your products, expertise and services to the global blade manufacturing industry. Prime advertisement places within the magazine will be sold on a strictly fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis.To book your place, contact our advertisement manager Claire Bishop:([email protected] Tel: +44 20 8686 8139).

Quality editorial contentWind Turbine Blade Manufacturing magazine is produced using the state-of-the-art on-line publishing platform developed for AMI’s highly successful portfolio of digital plastics magazines, which includes Compounding World, Injection World, and Film and Sheet Extrusion. The magazine can be viewed on a desktop or laptop computer using any web browser. Readers can also download it as a PDF to read offl ine, print or archive and can email web-links to the edition or to individual pages to colleagues or customers.

AMI is setting the standard in digital magazine publishing for the polymer sector, harnessing the opportunity provided by the web to deliver valuable and highly targeted technology information to a global audience. Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing is produced to the same high editorial and design standards as AMI’s other digital magazines. It is edited by Chris Smith, who is a materials science graduate and a highly experienced industry journalist with more than 20 years’ experience in the plastics processing sector.

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing will cover the latest business and project news of relevance to this fast moving industry, it will explore new market and technology trends, and will report on the latest material and equipment innovations and product launches. This new magazine will be an essential read for senior managers throughout the industry’s supply chain.

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing – Features� February 2013 – Advanced blade manufacturing • Material innovation • Lifetime prediction • Recycling • JEC 2013 Preview

If you wish to submit news stories or articles for consideration for the magazine, please contact Chris Smith:[email protected]. Tel: +44 117 924 9442

See over for circulation breakdown, advertising rates and data

Published FREE on the web to 7,394 key decision makers.

2013

CATALOGUE

www.ami-publishing.com

Leaders in plastics market research and consulting

APPLIED MARKET INFORMATION LTD.

Applied Market Information Ltd. provides market information on all aspects of the thermoplastics industry

AMI DATABASES AND REPORTSEurope · America · Asia · Middle East

Top 50 players in key markets Business overviews of the 50 leaders groups in each processing sector, including key production, strategic and financial information.

Statistical analysis of the plastics markets • Capacity/demand for all commodity

and engineering polymers • End use applications and

country analysis • Review of the structure of

the industry by process

EUROPE

Market Data / Statistics

AMI’s 2013 European Plastics Industry Report Edition: 12 To be published: May 2013Book: €555 $720 PDF: €655 $850

Compounding / Masterbatch

The Thermoplastics Compounding Industry in Europe - AMI’s GuideEdition: 11.0 Published: 2011 Sites: 670Book: €255 $330Database: €650 $845 Gold database: €975 $1270

Technical Compounders in Europe- A Review of Europe’s 50 Largest Players Edition: 3.0 Published: 2011Book: €455 $590PDF: €540 $700

EuropeEuropeeditionedition

1111

Europe

edition 11

AMI’s Guide toTHETHERMOPLASTICSCOMPOUNDINGINDUSTRY INEUROPE

edition 11

PVC compounders - A Review of Europe’s 50 Largest Players Edition 4.0 Published: 2009 Book: €455 $590PDF: €540 $700

Masterbatch Producers- A Review of Europe’s 50 Largest PlayersEdition: 3.0 Published: 2012 Book: €455 $590 PDF: €540 $700

Table of contents from: AMI’s 2013 European Plastics Industry Report

AMI’s 2013 European Plastics Industry Report is considered by the industry as the most comprehensive and best value market report on the plastics industry. It provides a wealth of information with key figures and graphs on polymer capacity and demand.

AMI also provides statistical analysis of plastics markets for other regions of the world, please contact us for more details.

FormatsMost of the data is available electronically either as a PDF or as a database, typically supplied on CD. The Gold database is a superior product with extra information.

The AMI publications bring you essential market data, in three types of publications:

Directories & databasesLocation and production details of 20,000 plastics processors worldwide with information on the polymer and machinery they use as well as their full location and managerial contacts. and managerial contacts. and managerial contacts.

ESSENTIAL DATA ON KE Y PL AYERS & PL ASTICS MARKETS

NEW

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 13 EXPLANATORY NOTES .................................................................................................. 14 Units of measure .................................................................................................................... 14 Source of data ........................................................................................................................ 14 Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... 14 SECTION 1 THE EUROPEAN PLASTICS INDUSTRY ............................................... 17 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 17 Market development ............................................................................................................... 18 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 20 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 25 Polymer supply ....................................................................................................................... 27 Structure of the processing industry ...................................................................................... 32 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 34 SECTION 2 THE MARKET FOR LINEAR AND LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE ..... 37 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 37 Market development ............................................................................................................... 37 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 39 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 41 Producers of LL/LDPE ........................................................................................................... 44 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 47 SECTION 3 THE MARKET FOR HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE ....................... 49 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 49 Market development ............................................................................................................... 49 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 51 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 53 Producers of HDPE ................................................................................................................ 55 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 58 SECTION 4 THE MARKET FOR POLYPROPYLENE. ................................................ 60 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 60 Market development ............................................................................................................... 60 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 62 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 64 Producers of polypropylene ................................................................................................... 67 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 70 SECTION 5 THE MARKET FOR PVC ............................................................................ 72 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 72 Market development ............................................................................................................... 72 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 75 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 77 Producers of PVC .................................................................................................................. 79 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 82 SECTION 6 THE MARKET FOR GP-HI POLYSTYRENE ........................................... 84 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 84 Market development ............................................................................................................... 84 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 87 End use applications .............................................................................................................. 89 Producers of GP-HI polystyrene ............................................................................................ 92 Future prospects .................................................................................................................... 93

................................................................................................................. 13

.................................................................................................. 14 Units of measure ..............................................................................................................

data ................................................................................................................tions .................................................................................................................

............................................... 17 Introduction ..................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 18 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications ..........................................................................................................

pply ................................................................................................................sing industry ...................................................................................... 32

Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

SECTION 2 THE MARKET FOR LINEAR AND LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENEmaterial ........................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 37 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications .......................................................................................................... LL/LDPE ..........................................................................................................

Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

SECTION 3 THE MARKET FOR HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE ....................... 49 material ........................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 49 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications ..........................................................................................................

of HDPE .............................................................................................................Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

................................................ 60 material ........................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 60 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications ..........................................................................................................

ypropylene ................................................................................................... Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

............................................................................ 72 material ........................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 72 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications ..........................................................................................................

of PVC ..............................................................................................................Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

........................................... 84 material ........................................................................................................

............................................................................................................... 84 in 2010-2011 .......................................................................................................ications ..........................................................................................................

polystyrene ............................................................................................ 92 Future prospects ..............................................................................................................

SECTION 7 THE MARKET FOR EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE ................................ 96 Definition of material .............................................................................................................. 96 Market development ............................................................................................................... 96 The market in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 99 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 101 Producers of EPS ................................................................................................................. 102 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 105 SECTION 8 THE MARKET FOR PET ........................................................................... 105 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 105 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 105 Market development ............................................................................................................. 105 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 108 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 109 Producers of PET ................................................................................................................. 112 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 115 SECTION 9 THE MARKET FOR ABS/SAN ................................................................. 117 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 119 Market development ............................................................................................................. 119 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 121 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 123 Producers of ABS/SAN ........................................................................................................ 125 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 127 SECTION 10 THE MARKET FOR POLYAMIDE ......................................................... 129 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 129 Market development ............................................................................................................. 129 The market in 2010-11 ......................................................................................................... 131 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 133 Producers of polyamide ....................................................................................................... 136 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 139 SECTION 11 THE MARKET FOR PBT ........................................................................ 139 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 141 Market development ............................................................................................................. 141 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 142 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 143 Producers of PBT ................................................................................................................. 145 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 146 SECTION 12 THE MARKET FOR POLYCARBONATE ............................................ 149 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 149 Market development ............................................................................................................. 149 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 151 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 152 Producers of polycarbonate ................................................................................................. 156 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 157 SECTION 13 THE MARKET FOR PMMA .................................................................... 159 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 159 Market development ............................................................................................................. 159 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 160 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 161 Producers of pmma .............................................................................................................. 163 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 166 SECTION 14 THE MARKET FOR ACETAL ............................................................... 168 Definition of material ............................................................................................................ 168 Market development ............................................................................................................. 168 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 170 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 171 Producers of acetal .............................................................................................................. 173 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 174

............................................................................................................... 96 in 2010-2011 ....................................................................................................... 99 ications ............................................................................................................ 101

of EPS ................................................................................................................. 102 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 105

........................................................................... 105 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 105

material ............................................................................................................ 105 ............................................................................................................. 105

2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 108 ications ............................................................................................................ 109

of PET ................................................................................................................. 112 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 115

................................................................. 117 material ............................................................................................................ 119

............................................................................................................. 119 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 121 ications ............................................................................................................ 123 ABS/SAN ........................................................................................................ 125

Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 127

......................................................... 129 material ............................................................................................................ 129

............................................................................................................. 129 in 2010-11 ......................................................................................................... 131 ications ............................................................................................................ 133 polyamide ....................................................................................................... 136


........................................................................ 139 material ............................................................................................................ 141

............................................................................................................. 141 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 142 ications ............................................................................................................ 143

of PBT ................................................................................................................. 145 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 146

SECTION 12 THE MARKET FOR POLYCARBONATE ............................................ 149 material ............................................................................................................ 149

............................................................................................................. 149 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 151 ications ............................................................................................................ 152

ycarbonate ................................................................................................. 156 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 157

.................................................................... 159 material ............................................................................................................ 159

............................................................................................................. 159 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 160 ications ............................................................................................................ 161 pmma .............................................................................................................. 163


............................................................... 168 material ............................................................................................................ 168

............................................................................................................. 168 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 170 ications ............................................................................................................ 171 acetal .............................................................................................................. 173


SECTION 15 THE THERMOPLASTICS COMPOUNDING INDUSTRY .................. 176 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 176 The production of thermoplastics compounds ..................................................................... 176 Colour compounds ............................................................................................................... 177 Masterbatch ......................................................................................................................... 178 PVC compounds .................................................................................................................. 179 Technical polyolefins ............................................................................................................ 180 Engineering compounds ...................................................................................................... 181 Industry structure ................................................................................................................. 181 SECTION 16 THE FILM EXTRUSION INDUSTRY ..................................................... 185 Definition of process ............................................................................................................. 185 Market development ............................................................................................................. 185 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 187 Polymer demand .................................................................................................................. 188 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 191 Structure of the industry ....................................................................................................... 193 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 196 SECTION 17 THE PIPE AND PROFILE EXTRUSION INDUSTRY ......................... 198 Definition of process ............................................................................................................. 198 Market development ............................................................................................................. 198 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 202 Polymer demand .................................................................................................................. 203 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 206 Structure of the industry ....................................................................................................... 209 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 213 SECTION 18 THE RIGID FILM AND SHEET INDUSTRY ......................................... 215 Definition of process ............................................................................................................. 215 Market development ............................................................................................................. 215 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 216 Polymer demand .................................................................................................................. 217 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 220 Structure of the industry ....................................................................................................... 221 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 224 SECTION 19 THE INJECTION MOULDING INDUSTRY .......................................... 226 Definition of process ............................................................................................................. 226 Market development ............................................................................................................. 226 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 229 Polymer demand .................................................................................................................. 230 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 232 Structure of the industry ....................................................................................................... 235 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 241 SECTION 20 THE BLOW MOULDING INDUSTRY .................................................... 243 Definition of process ............................................................................................................. 243 Market development ............................................................................................................. 243 The market in 2010-2011 ..................................................................................................... 246 Polymer demand .................................................................................................................. 247 End use applications ............................................................................................................ 250 Structure of the industry ....................................................................................................... 252 Future prospects .................................................................................................................. 255 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................... 257 Data coverage ...................................................................................................................... 257 Country coverage ................................................................................................................. 257 The plastics industry in France ............................................................................................ 258 The plastics industry in Germany ............................................................................................... The plastics industry in Italy ....................................................................................................... The plastics industry in the United Kingdom .............................................................................. The plastics industry in Belgium ................................................................................................

AMI’s b est sel ler

Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing provides a low cost means to market your products and services to the global blade manufacturing industry. Find out about the publication and advertising rates in our media pack.


AMI publishes a wide range of databases and reports for the worldwide plastics industry, including Europe, North and South America, and Asia . Find out about our current products in this six-page catalogue.


AMI is a leading organiser of conferences for the plastics

industry around the world. We run more than 30 events in

Europe, America, The Middle East and Asia each year,

featuring more than 500 expert presentations and attracting

well over 3,000 plastics industry professionals.

Focused on specific subjects, our conferences bring

together international audiences including influential play-

ers from throughout the supply chain. In particular, the events

typically attract a high proportion of processors and end-users.

Our events provide a perfect environment for attendees to

learn about the latest market and technology trends in their

chosen subject. They also offer excellent opportunities

for making new contacts with plenty of time set aside

for networking.

AMI’s conferences also provide highly effective marketing

opportunities. We have a range of sponsorship packages

available for each event as well as table-top exhibitions.

Click here for details of these packages.

Our highly experienced conference teams ensure that

our events run professionally and smoothly. All delegates

receive comprehensive documentation including printed and

electronic proceedings featuring the presentations given at

the event.

To find out more about AMI’s Conferences, contact:

Adele Brown ([email protected]) +44 117 924 9442).

www.amiconferences.com

AMI’s conferences – making the right connections

These are just some of the topics covered by our international conferences and we are adding new events all the time....

Agricultural film

Artificial grass

BOPP film

Cable applications

End of life plastics

Fire retardants

Flexible packaging

Green chemistry

Masterbatch

Medical applications

Minerals in compounding

Multi-Layer packaging films

Oilfield engineering with polymers

Photovoltaics

Pipeline coating

Plastic closure innovations

Plastic pipes

Polymer foam

Polymer sourcing and distribution

Polyolefin additives

Profiles

PVC formulation

Stretch and shrink film

Thin wall packaging

Waterproof membranes

Wind turbine blade manufacture

Wood-plastic composites

We hold our conferences in the

following regions:

- Europe

- Asia

- Middle East

- United States

For an up-to-date list of our

forthcoming conferences visit

www.amiconferences.com

AMI CONFERENCES APP AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE:

AMI’s European Conference Team

WT2013

Documents

Transcript of WT2013