America's wind industry is simultaneously on course for a record-breaking year of installations and on the brink of catastrophe – and a lot has to do with the boom and bust of the Production Tax Credit (PTC).
28 April 2012
Members' Content
At the JEC Europe 2012 trade show in Paris in March, Momentive Specialty Chemicals introduced a new epoxy system for the mass production of carbon fibre automotive components and a line of epoxy resins for longer and lighter wind turbine rotor blades. The company also announced the opening of a development centre for transportation composites.
28 April 2012
At JEC Europe 2012, AGY launched a ‘re-energised’ organisation and announced a deal under which CTG/Taishan Fiberglass of China will manufacture AGY’s new S-1 HM high performance glass rovings for use in wind turbine blades. We spoke to AGY's new President, Drew Walker.
12 April 2012
America's wind industry is simultaneously on course for a record-breaking year of installations and on the brink of catastrophe – and a lot has to do with the boom and bust of the Production Tax Credit (PTC).
28 March 2012
The new-generation of wind turbines that will operate offshore require very large rotors. George Marsh looks at a different approach to blade design from Blade Dynamics – scaling down as opposed to scaling up.
14 March 2012
Members' Content
With a new generation of sophisticated wind turbines targeting inhospitable offshore regimes comes the need for better day to day testing of components. Jari Toikkanen, manager of the research and test group at Moventas looks at how the company’s testing is being streamlined through technology to produce quicker results.
17 February 2012
The world wind turbine market is set for continued growth, with the Global Wind Energy Council forecasting up to 1 TW installed by 2020 in its most optimistic scenario. As wind turbines go offshore and into more extreme environments, the demands put on their blades increase. To ensure the blades meet design requirements, they are tested – both internally and by full-scale testing facilities. We see how the testing is done and why.
09 February 2012
The wind energy industry is one of the fastest-growing consumers of fibre reinforced plastics in the world. Production challenges are compounded as the scale of wind turbines continues to climb. Blades, among the most complex parts to mould, now exceed 80 m in length and are getting longer. We report on new products and processes developed to meet the needs of utility-scale blade producers.
24 January 2012
Reinforced Plastics asked Onur Tokgoz, Wind Energy Global Business Leader at 3B-the fibreglass company, about the company’s activities in the wind energy market and its new glass reinforcement for wind turbine blade manufacture, Advantex® SE2020.
23 January 2012
Wind devices date all the way back to vertical axis wind mills from the Persian-Afghanistan borders around 200 BC, to today’s efforts to develop 10 MW wind turbines...
18 January 2012
A review of the Wind Turbine Blade Manufacture conference organised by AMI in Germany last month.
16 January 2012
One of the trends at this year's Windpower 2011 event in Anaheim, California was a heavy emphasis on new technology – as well as the continuing debate about how to make wind a more reliable and grid-friendly source of power.
30 December 2011
A big year is in store for the U.S. wind power industry in 2012, both in the policy arena and out in the field...
30 December 2011
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has established a tradition of taking a look back in December at the events that shaped the year in wind power. Here is their 2011 offering.
28 December 2011
World growth will slow in 2012, but the question is by how much – IHS Global Insight chief economist Nariman Behravesh releases his Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2012.
23 December 2011
When it comes to financing a wind farm there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Tailoring the right funding structure for a wind development depends on where in the world you plan to build, what scale of project you have in mind, and whether it's a purely private or community endeavour.
17 November 2011
A £25 million centre for innovation in composites design and manufacture officially opens in the UK in late November. CEO Peter Chivers gave Amanda Jacob a tour.
08 November 2011
FORMAX doesn’t do ‘off the shelf’ – it works with customers to develop bespoke reinforcements optimised for their composite processes and applications. Reinforced Plastics visited the multiaxial fabric specialist’s facility in Leicester, UK.
20 September 2011
Bernd Hoevel, Senior R&D Manager, and Alain Sagnard, Senior R&D Engineer, at the Dow Chemical Company, describe how the company's foam core material and epoxy resin systems can help manufacture lighter, stronger wind turbine blades.
29 August 2011
Fred Stoll, Chief Engineer, WebCore Technologies LLC, explains how TYCOR® W core material is helping wind turbine blade designers reduce the cost and weight of bigger blades while giving operations managers improved quality.
01 August 2011