JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #47 - March/April 2009 - 26

BUSINESS Trends Composite challenges to meet growing wind-industry needs Wind energy is a major source of clean, renewable energy that could be used to meet the needs of the world’s populations. If the demands of this booming market are to be satisfied, we need to develop enhanced wind-turbine generators capable of more electric output, i.e. with larger rotor diameters. Current composite technologies have limitations, however, that are an obstacle to such development. wind energy as a reliable resource for the future, with plans to move from land to off-shore deployment. The future of the wind-energy market looks very good through the year 2012 and beyond. characteristics such as low weight, high strength and stiffness. Traditionally, wood was a material of choice for wind turbine blades. Major players like Vestas had mastered the technology to develop reliable powergenerating machines. However, the constant demand for enhanced performance has spurred along material innovations such as the composite concept, and paved the way for strong, stiff fibres such as glass and carbon, taking material limits beyond those of traditional metals and polymers in terms of stiffness and ductility. Additional improvements have also been achieved in terms of damping capacity, fatigue strength, and more. The wind turbine industry has now adopted composite materials, consuming thousands of tons of these every year. Wind turbines require large rotor blades, nacelles and other components manufactured with customized processes such as wet lay-up, VARTM, prepreg lay-up and other processes. NARASIMALU SRIKANTH, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, VESTAS TECHNOLOGY R&D, SINGAPORE Wind turbine performance roducing the stiff, strong and lightweight composites that are needed to prevent potential buckling, fatigue and creep problems is dependent on a number of things, such as: • the combined efforts of the different material suppliers, • new manufacturing processes for costeffective tooling, better performance and high quality, • supply chain development to drive innovation in lightweight materials that can serve the purpose, • other technologies such as nondestructive testing of composite products, simulation for better composite design, transportation of large composite structures, etc. P Due to the direct impact of variations in terrain on air flow patterns, traditional windmill designs have always featured elevated towers. Wind turbine manufacturers are pushing the technology towards larger and larger rotor-blade diameters, because the power derived from wind depends on the square of the rotor blade’s diameter. Their efforts have already enabled a radical increase in wind-turbine power generating capacities, from 3 KW in the 1980s to 3 MW in the 1990s. The research departments of leading wind turbine firms continue to seek more radical enhancements. Some of the keys to success are enhanced material Energy demand is increasing exponentially due to the growing world population. At the same time, more than 80% of our energy comes from fossil fuel, and these resources are being rapidly depleted. Increased global awareness of the resulting pollution is prompting the engineering community to look for renewable energy sources. Wind energy is one choice that can be viewed as a costeffective, predictable and reliable source of clean energy. Today, both industrialized and developing countries are focusing on Composite technologies are key enablers Technological change and market structure are co-evolving. Jovanovic’s research showed that major innovation triggers an industrial shakeup, forcing out firms that are Fig. 1: Expected future growth of wind energy generation. 26 jec composites magazine / No47 March-April 2009

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #47 - March/April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #47 - March/April 2009