Commercialisation of Advanced Composite Material Technology: Carbon-Glass Hybrid in PowderEpoxy for Large (60-100m) Wind Turbine Blades

Powderblade is a research and development project that will use novel engineering methods to modernise the way large wind turbine blades are manufactured and installed. The requirements of large-scale wind turbines are at the boundaries of current blade manufacturing technology. Modern wind turbines are demanding ever longer and lighter blades than current manufacturing methods can produce. The Powderblade project aims to address this by bringing to market stronger, lighter, and more structurally efficient carbon/glass hybrid wind blades.

Wind turbine blades ranging from the smallest up to the largest have traditionally been manufactured in a vacuum infusion process. With increasing blade length, the level of control over the quality of the finished product decreases considerably leading to heavier, over-designed blades. Powderblade aims to replace this process through the use of ÉireComposites’ powder epoxy technology. The powder epoxy materials will also be demonstrated in wind energy applications and subsequently made available to other industries such as marine, automotive and construction.

Powderblade will change the way large wind turbine blades are manufactured, transported and installed, leading to a step improvement in the cost and performance.