The center is contractually obligated not to name the vendor. The blade is the largest wind-related structure the facility has had the opportunity to test during the past six years.
Communications Director Josh Plourde tells Recharge that the center’s testing lab has the longest structural reaction floor for blade evaluation in the US. It can evaluate blade tower and foundation components up to 70-meters.
For utility-scale wind blades, the center is accredited to conduct a full suite of static and fatigue tests per IEC 61400-23, he says.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in Boston is the other US facility accredited to do such testing.
