Carbon Fibre In Large Blades Challenges and Benefits for use in Wind Turbine Blade Design

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1 Carbon Fibre In Large Blades Challenges and Benefits for use in Wind Turbine Blade Design Composites Without Borders, October, 16 th 2014, Moscow Julien Sellier Managing Director Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 1

2 STRUCTeam Introduction Your composite Business lifecycle is our expertise We can help you make better decisions, reduce costs, improve efficiency and develop appropriate technologies for your composite business. Independent Composite Consultancy 70+ Projects Completed since 2010 across various market sectors Large and active presence in Wind and Renewables markets Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 2

3 Project Introduction 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 GOLDWIND One of the largest Wind Turbine OEM 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 Fibre use Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 3

4 Carbon Fibre use in Wind Blades 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 combination of aero and structural performance whilst reducing overall turbine system cost. Allows thinner more slender blade designs with better aero performance and improved AEP. Reduced Blade Mass and Lower solidity rotor reduce overall system loads and hence system costs. Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 4

5 Blade Supply Chain Influence Turbine manufacturer Blade Manufacturer 1 Blade Manufacturer 2 Blade Designer Blade Manufacturer n This is not always structured in this way! Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 5

6 Material Choice for Wind Blades Typical Structural Architecture for Wind Blade Trailing Edge Choice between Carbon and Glass in Sparcaps and on Trailing Edge Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 6

7 Rotor Blade Development Process months Timeline Material Qualification Material Supply Turbine System Design parameters and Requirements Design for Manufacture Prototype Build and Test Preliminary Concept Design Studies Full Design Iterations (Multiple as required) Blade Series Production Detailed Structural Design Certification Activities Concept Agreed Design Ready for Detailing Design Ready for Prototyping Commercial Ramp-Up Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 7

8 Rotor Blade Design Process 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 8

9 Results of the Study Glass vs. Carbon Blade Comparison Glass Blade Carbon Blade Difference Mass (tonnes) % Cost (k ) % Geometry Comparison Better Aero Performance Lower overall turbine loads Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 9

10 Cost Breakdown Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 10

11 Overall Business Case Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 11

12 Carbon vs Glass Blade CAPEX Costs Comparison of Overall System Costs Carbon Blade Rotor Overall Saving of 115k per turbine (1-2%) Glass Blade Rotor Turbine Component Cost Estimates (k ) Rotor Costs Nacelle Structure Balance of System Drive Train Tower Substructure +16% -9% +1% -2% -7% -3% Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 12

13 Carbon vs Glass Blade Energy Yield 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 % Lower CAPEX + Increased AEP = LOWER COST OF ENERGY Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 13

14 Carbon vs Glass Blade Benefits Farm Level 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 M Per Wind Farm Benefit (M ) Carbon Blades Cost Premium (3 Blades) 9.5M 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 21-24) CoE Benefit (Yr 16-20) CoE Benefit (Yr 11-15) CoE Benefit (Yr 6-10) CoE Benefit (Yr 1-5) Turbine Cost Saving Carbon Investment Overall benefit is 43.2M Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 14

15 Carbon vs Glass Blade - Design Flexibility 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 Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 15

16 Carbon vs Glass Blade Enabling Larger Rotor 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 Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 16

17 Challenges - Robust High Volume Production 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 Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 17

18 Conclusions There are opportunities for further use of carbon fibre in wind Choice of Carbon needs to be considered in context of a business case Blade Design Integration with Turbine Manufacturer is Key. Appropriate Carbon products are necessary for robust high volume production Copyright STRUCTeam Ltd 18