The first test bench able to handle super-size 115-metre-long rotor blades – models of a size needed for the 12-15MW offshore wind turbines expected to be on the market by the early 2020s – will be built at R&D institute Fraunhofer IWES in Bremerhaven, Germany, following funding from the country’s federal and state governments.
The new €12m ($13.5m) facility slated for 2021 operations will be built around a main rig for full-scale blades trials, as well as separate benches for segment or componentry testing, with the target of helping the industry design rotor blades “even more precisely in the future, thereby saving on both weight and costs”.
