Advances in wind turbine blade design and Materials

The size of wind turbines blades continues to increase in pursuit of higher efficiency energy conversion. This presents materials challenges given the needs to both assure quality and competitive costs in large-scale manufacture, as well as to ensure that the blades operate to specification over their required lifetime. Additional trends to increase the penetration and utilisation of sustainable wind power include smaller wind turbine systems, as well as the use of natural and bio-based materials, trends that present their own challenges to the design, manufacture and operation of wind turbine blades.