An innovative rotor blade add-on inspired by Formula-1 race car technology has been shown to boost turbine output by as much as 10% in tests at the Gansu Changma wind farm in China’s Gansu province.

Designed by British start-up Anakata, the aerodynamic ‘winglets’, which have already been retrofitted on machines in the UK, Europe and the US to reduce leading-edge blade erosion while enhancing performance, are now being sized up for trials at an offshore wind farm off the Asian nation.

The technology, development of which has been supported by the TORC R&D centre, a collaboration between China’s TUS Wind and the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, is seen as an immediate fit for as many as 20,000 turbines in the world’s biggest onshore wind market.

“Blades are the key components of wind turbines to absorb wind energy – if the wind speed of the wind farm during the operation period is different from expected, or the blades are corroded, this will incur production losses for the wind farm. The blade ‘winglets’ are an ideal solution to this problem,” said TORC technical director Huang Zonghua.

“By installing this new technical product on the blade, the energy output can be increased by 10%.”

TORC general manager Wang Peng Fei stated: “The successful completion of this demonstration project is a significant milestone in establishing long-term international cooperation between China and the UK.”

Anakata CEO Ben Wood added: “Anakata is now successfully accessing the Chinese wind energy rotor blade retrofitting market for our add-ons as a direct result of all the hard work of ORE Catapult, Innovate UK and TORC. Without their help, support and bridge-building with the ideal Chinese partner companies, this would have been a near impossibility.”

TORC has set up an innovation centre and incubation hub in Yantai High Tech Industrial Zone in Shandong province to support the growth of the Chinese and UK offshore wind industries through collaborative research and incubation programmes as well as technology demonstration projects.

Gansu Changma is one of six megaprojects expected to form a 20GW wind power complex by 2020, being built at an estimated development cost of 120 bn yuan ($17.5bn).

Wind

Formula-1 ‘winglets’ big boost to wind turbine output in China tests