Objective:
The objective of DURALEDGE is to provide the wind turbine industry with understanding of leading edge erosion (LEE) mechanisms, guidelines and predictive computational models for the development of LE protection of blades against rain erosion and impact fatigue, as well as highly resistant gradient multilayered coating for full lifetime surface protection of blades. This will remove the erosion related tip speed constraint on rotor design, increase the efficiency and reliability of wind energy generation.
Leading edge erosion leads to huge maintenance and downtime costs. For example, Ørsted announced in 2016 that all 273 blades at their Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm, which has been operational for six years, were severely eroded. Costs associated with blade leading edge erosion include loss in wind farm annual energy production and the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs for inspecting and repairing the blades. Further, one of the promising future directions of wind energy development is the development of wind turbines with high tip speed (over 90 m/s). The tip speed increase would
also result in an overall reduction to up to 9% in system LCOE. However, one of the main constraints in such a development is the leading edge erosion, which plays especially critical role for high tip speeds and can dramatically.
Expected outcome:
The DURALEDGE project includes a unique strategic partnership between the three world leading wind blade manufacturers, leading coating and polymer manufacturers and DTU Wind Energy to solve one of the biggest O&M challenges in wind energy. The project includes comprehensive testing and computational studies, materials development and validation programs.
The project started November 1. 2018 and runs for three years.
Total project budget: 19.83 mio. DKK.