Innovative leading edge protection system for wind turbine blades
Wind Power has become the most promising technology as source of renewable energy in the World. In 2016, Wind Power installed more than any other form of power generation in Europe (51% of total power capacity installations), overtaking coal as the 2nd largest form of power generation capacity.
Since cost reduction of each kW/h generated by Wind Power industry is one of its strategic targets, the market displays a strong tendency towards bigger wind turbines with longer blades. However, bigger rotor diameters have raised a dramatic problem regarding the durability of the blades which concerns the whole value chain of the wind power industry. Increasing blade lengths means faster linear velocity of the tip of the blade and consequently higher erosion rate of the leading edge of the blade caused by rain, hail or suspended particles.
Although the lifespan of a wind turbine is calculated in 25 years, traditional medium sized wind turbines provided with current protection systems of the leading edges, required complete maintenance tasks due to deterioration of the blades at around year 10. However, recently installed turbines with +100 m diameter rotors showed problems regarding the erosion of the blades at year 2.
In order to solve the erosion problem, Aerox Advanced Polymers SL, a SME specialised in developing solutions for the wind power industry, has developed an innovative leading edge protection (LEP) polymeric coating with particular mechanical and chemical properties which is able to avoid the erosion problem during the whole lifetime of the wind blade.
The LEP4BLADES project aims to accelerate the commercialisation of the coating solution through the scaling-up the manufacturing and application processes, which will also require the improvement of the polymer technology and the product formulation.