This video shows follows the transport of the 83.5 m blade from SSP Technology to the Fraunhofer Institute, where it is now being tested.
The 7 MW offshore wind turbine with a 171.2 m diameter rotor will be used in the construction of 12 units in an 84 MW offshore installation in the Korea Straits. A collaboration between Samsung Heavy Industries and the Korea Southern Power Corporation, the wind farm is targeted to start operations in 2015, making it South Korea's first offshore wind energy project.
DIAB supplied all core materials used in the blade: ProBalsa150 balsa wood core material and Divinycell H80 structural foam core material. The core materials were provided with distinctive groovings to facilitate processing. Each blade skin was produced in a female mould using a combination of VARTM (vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding), prepreg and hand lamination.
SSP Technology was able to produce the first complete prototype at its production site in Denmark within 15 months. The blade was then transported to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Bremerhaven, Germany, where it is currently undergoing testing and evaluation to prove the quality of the blade, including the spar box and the root design developed by SSP Technology.
The tests, which will be verified by DNV, include two months of static testing and a 25-year lifecycle fatigue test, which will last approximately 6 months.
After the successful completion of the tests, production of the three remaining prototype blades will begin.
