CRADAs for wind turbine blades

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The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory will work with consortiums from Texas and Massachusetts to design, build and operate new facilities to test the next generation of wind turbine blades.

The

will work with consortiums from

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to design, build and operate new facilities to test the next generation of giant wind turbine blades.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced the blade test facility cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) yesterday.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Partnership and the Lone Star Wind Alliance in Texas were chosen to build facilities to test large wind turbine blades with an ultimate goal of testing blades up to 100m in length.

Blade testing is required to meet wind turbine design standards, reduce machine cost, and reduce the technical and financial risk of deploying mass-produced wind turbine models.

Rapid growth in wind turbine size over the past two decades has outstripped the existing capabilities of the NREL's National Wind Technology Center, which operates the only facility in North America capable of full-scale testing of megawatt-size wind turbine blades.

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