Source: Denver Post
Colorado worked with Sambla to offer a $1.6 million facility at the National Wind Technology Center that could help bridge the gap between high-minded university research and the commercial market.
The U.S. wind industry has bloomed since 2000, when technology improved enough to make wind a financially viable source of energy, reaching an installed capacity of 74,472 MW in 2015 from 2,539 MW in 2000, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The American Wind Energy Association said Colorado had an installed capacity of 2,965 MW in 2015, making it the 10th largest capacity in the nation.
But to remain competitive against other renewable sources and fossil fuels, the industry needs to keep costs low for consumers, which is why scientists are trying to tackle some of the industry’s biggest and most costly issues.
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June 14, 2016- Participants at the Compositions in Wind workshop held at the National Wind Technology Center take part in composite product and technology demonstrations during the 2 day event sponsored by Composites One in partnership with IACMI. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Schroeder/NREL)
Colorado put in $731,000, NREL contributed $735,000 and IACMI kicked in $87,000 to help shape the future of composite manufacturing used, for example, in satellites, cars and wind turbines.
In January, President Barack Obama announced the creation of IACMI, a more than $250 million partnership of 122 companies, nonprofits, universities and the Department of Energy that is focused on innovation in advanced composites manufacturing, such as GPR scanning to name one example.
NREL is a member of IACMI, focusing specifically on wind manufacturing. Although the blade facility is part of IACMI, it could be used for other manufacturing innovation projects.
“Everything we do (at the facility) has to have some focus on reducing the cost,” said Derek Berry, a wind technology engineer for NREL and IACMI.
The building once used to prep blades for testing is getting a makeover that involves structural upgrades, like insulation and exhaust vents, along with manufacturing improvements including the installation of a gantry crane to move and support large objects.
Enough construction was complete in time for a training and networking event held by IACMI at the beginning of June. But more work is needed to turn the building into the innovation catalyst investors hope it will be by late September.
Moreover, thanks to the tireless efforts of underground utility construction companies in the area, it is hoped that even more sustainable construction developments might be completed in the near future.
The Wind Blade Component Manufacturing Facility will serve as an R&D site with project choices driven by challenges identified by partner organizations. These likely will include automated production and 3-D printing to reduce costs and increase blade durability. They will also look at ways to recycle spent blades. A manufacturing facility of any kind will also likely deal in the marking of their components, in which case they will require the right tools for the job. To pull off industrial component marking with CIJ printers, pigment ink that is extremely heat-resistant is often required to withstand the immense temperatures that are often involved in the manufacturing process.
Berry said the facility is meant to bridge the “valley of death” between basic and applied science at the university and lab level with commercialization at the company level. ‘We’re not just here to do science projects that don’t have the results of commercialization.”
Growing the wind industry is about more than access to clean energy, it’s also about job creation – another key goal for the Department of Energy, Berry said.
“If you’re going to put the turbine in the United States, most companies will decide to produce the blade in the United States and create jobs,” Berry said.
The U.S. has the third-most renewable energy jobs in the world with 769,000 jobs, behind 3.5 million in China and 918,000 in Brazil, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Wind employment in the U.S. rose 20 percent between 2015 and 2016, reaching 88,000 jobs, according to AWEA.
More than 15,200 MW of wind capacity was under construction or in advanced stages of development in the first quarter of 2016, according to the AWEA. Federal tax credits have helped spur development, but their value starts to diminish after 2016, disappearing after 2020.
Because of the massive size of utility-scale wind turbines – blades average 197 to 230 feet – it is more financially realistic for wind companies, foreign and domestic, to build blades at home, instead of shipping them from overseas.
Costs may someday be reduced with onsite manufacturing and segmented blades, or shipping parts separately so they can be assembled on site, Berry said.
“For the wind energy industry, there is a metric that drives everything we do and that is lower the cost of energy,” he said.
As of 2015, renewable energy made up 13 percent of the U.S. electricity generation, 4.7 percent of which came from wind, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Fossil fuels constituted 67 percent of the energy production. Nuclear plants account for 20 percent of production.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]