Innovation Award for rotor blades made of steel

Wind turbines are becoming a more frequent sight in many parts of the world. Used for their ability to generate "green" power they are seen as one of the solutions to our fossil fuel dependence.

This article from the Sun & Wind Energy Magazine website brings news of Marco Pröhl from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU receiving the Steel Innovation Prize in the category 'Climate Protection with Steel' for his work in creating wind turbine rotor blades from sheet steel for the first time.

This is exciting news for the wind turbine industry as it means that now wind turbines can be used to generate clean energy while also being made from recycled materials that are 100% recyclable at the end of their useful life and even better, they can be made much faster than the traditional fibre-reinforced plastic blades that were previously used.

From the article:

This not only makes recycling the blades more environmentally friendly, it also significantly lowers the costs of production: "Compared to conventional plastic materials, we can reduce the manufacturing costs by up to 90%. At the same time, our process allows us to manufacture the blades with a much higher degree of precision, which has positive effects on the aerodynamics," Pröhl said. In addition, the blades can be produced more quickly: producing a finished rotor blade only takes approximately 30 seconds. Fibre-reinforced plastics often need several hours.

Read the entire article here.