Carbon Fibre Challenges and Benefits for use in Wind Turbine Blade Design Christopher Monk Engineering Manager STRUCTeam Ltd Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 1
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P ro j e c t I n t ro d u c t i o n Key Partners Holding Company Composites - HCC Experts in Development and Supply of Carbon Materials and Product Forms across Industry Areas DNV-GL Experts in Turbine Development & Certification Overall Objective Establish Baseline Blade Design for our Wind Clients Blade design is scalable +/-5m and tunable for given turbine data Decision Making Tool based upon Sound Business Case Assessment Understand and Quantify Benefits associated with Carbon Material use Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 3
C a r b o n F i b re u s e i n W i n d B l a d e s Carbon Fibre is the material of choice for many Wind Energy OEMs when it comes to the development of large wind blades. Vestas, Gamesa, Enercon, AREVA and GE are all using Carbon fibre in Wind Blades Carbon allows Better Turbine Performance Reduction in Turbine Loads Wind OEMs need to Understand the business case Have Confidence in Quality 4
B l a d e S u p p l y C h a i n I n f l u e n c e Turbine manufacturer Blade Manufacturer 1 Blade Manufacturer 2 Blade Designer Blade Manufacturer n Integrated System Design to fully realise the value This is not always structured in this way! Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 5
M a t e r i a l C h o i c e fo r W i n d B l a d e s Typical Structural Architecture for Wind Blade Trailing Edge Choice between Carbon and Glass in Sparcaps and on Trailing Edge Structurally Critical Areas Confidence in Quality Essential Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 6
Ro t o r B l a d e D e s i g n P ro c e s s Turbine Data Aero Design Carbon Material Technical Data Glass Material Technical Data Structural Design Component Surface Areas and Bill of Materials Carbon Material Commercial Data Materials Cost and Supply Chain Feasibility Tooling Cost and Manufacturing Cost Assessment Aero Performance Assessment Turbine Load Assessment STL HCC Client Overall Business Case Assessment Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 7
Re s u l t s o f t h e S t u d y Glass vs. Carbon Blade Comparison Glass Blade Carbon Blade Difference Mass (tonnes) 35 26-25% Cost (k ) 190 244 +28% Geometry Comparison Better Aero Performance Lower overall turbine loads 8
O ve ra l l B u s i n e s s C a s e 9
C a r b o n v s G l a s s B l a d e C A P E X C o s t s Comparison of Overall System Costs Carbon Blade Rotor Overall Saving of 115k per turbine (1-2%) Glass Blade Rotor 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 Turbine Component Cost Estimates (k ) Rotor Costs Nacelle Structure Balance of System Drive Train Tower Substructure +16% -9% +1% -2% -7% -3% 10
C a r b o n v s G l a s s B l a d e E n e r g y Y i e l d Aero Benefit from Carbon vs Glass Blade: Thinner more slender blade gives overall lower loads on Turbine AEP is maintained or even slightly better than for glass (1.1% benefit at TSR=10) TSR Carbon Cp Annual mean Wind Speed Carbon AEP (MWh) Glass AEP (MWh) % AEP Benefit 10 0.506 8 26476 26193 1.1% Lower CAPEX + Increased AEP = LOWER COST OF ENERGY 11
Per Wind Farm Benefit (M ) C a r b o n v s G l a s s B l a d e B e n e f i t s Fa r m L e ve l Reduced CAPEX + Higher Energy Yield = Lower Cost of Energy Apply Representative Cost Model to a 500MW Offshore Farm (83 Turbines) 33.7M over 25 year life or 1.3M /year saving for typical farm 35000 30000 25000 33.7M 20000 CoE Benefit (Yr 21-24) 15000 10000 9.5M CoE Benefit (Yr 16-20) CoE Benefit (Yr 11-15) CoE Benefit (Yr 6-10) 5000 0-5000 -10000-15000 Carbon Blades Cost Premium (3 Blades) Direct Cost Benefits For Turbine fitted with Carbon Blade (Includes premium of Carbon Blades) Estimated Operational benefits For Turbine fitted with Carbon Blade CoE Benefit (Yr 1-5) Turbine Cost Saving Carbon Investment Overall benefit is 43.2M 12
C a r b o n v s G l a s s B l a d e - D e s i g n F l ex i b i l i t y Blades are often designed as a Hybrid Glass/Carbon solution Tune the overall rotor mass and blade price point to exact turbine capacity Client to take the decision on where to draw this line 13
C a r b o n v s G l a s s B l a d e E n a b l i n g L a rge r Ro t o r Keep rotor mass same but increase size 10% load reduction allows 3% larger rotor 1.5% overall increase energy production Much more competitive product offering Lower CoE from higher energy output per turbine Fewer turbines per farm 14
A c h i e v i n g C o n f i d e n c e i n Q u a l i t y Design for Manufacture to ensure quality Repeatable and Robustness product and process: Material format Ability to inspect/control the finished product Very large volume due to sheer scale of the product Supply chain robustness and longevity 15
C o n c l u s i o n s There are opportunities for further use of carbon fibre in wind Enabling the Application requires Thorough Examination of Business Case Adaptable Designs considered as integrated system Confidence In Quality Product Forms Developed With Manufacturing Process Engineers and Blade Designers 16
Q u e s t i o n s a n d C o m m e n t s Christopher Monk Engineering Manager Chris.monk@structeam-ltd.com 00 44 1983 240 534 00 44 7718 425 240 17