Posters

Abstract

Innovation has been and will continue to be paramount to improve the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) of wind turbines, which is key to the world’s green energy transition efforts. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) increasingly require the time-to-market to be reduced, due to the high capital expenditures associated with increasingly larger turbines, and the complexity and speed of present innovation and design of new generation blades. However, current manufacturing and associated design processes across the supply chains are unable to keep up, compounded with additional considerations such as sustainability, control and traceability, health and safety etc. This paper provides an example on how digitalization of design processes across the supply chain can address these key challenges and complexity. Taking an outset in core material product design processes, this paper shows how digitalization ensures that cognitive power of humans no longer will be a limiting factor. Solutions that were previously unconceivable can be optimized with consideration for multiple design constraints, thereby, maximizing the cost efficiency and performance. The work also explores the benefits and challenges related to integrating design platforms across the supply chain that is required to harvest the full potential. It has already been used to steer discussions on future acquisition and development of more complex kitting machinery by quantifying the reduction of, for example, the total core resin uptake of a ‘future’ kit when compared to present methods. The ultimate impact in this example may lead to weight reductions in blades that is of interest to OEMs.