Material Usage in Wind Turbine Blades - The Global Market 2023

Material Usage in Wind Turbine Blades - The Global Market 2023

To be published February 2023

The new edition of this report by AMI Consulting quantifies the market, its structure, the status of the technology and the changes which are underway.

The supply chain from raw material to finished wind turbine blade is relatively complex. There are a broad range of materials producers supplying either direct or via a number of pre-processors, formulators and technical textile companies. There are a variety of business models too which are outlined in this report. In 2019, demand for raw materials exceeded 996,000 tonnes and generated market sales of €2.9 billion. Material demand is not only driven by annual blade demand but also blade size, design or other factors such as blade stock levels, blade exports or repowering. All these factors are taken into consideration in AMI Consulting’s analysis.

The commercial market for wind turbines was established over two decades ago and requirements are now emerging for repowering, repair and maintenance. These segments are expected to grow faster than new installation. Blades’ Operation & Maintenance (O&M) has been an area of growing interest for material suppliers because of the higher margins. In addition to that, penetrating the blade O&M market has proven to be a successful way of entering the blade manufacturing market for material suppliers in recent years, as blades in operation provide the best possible opportunity to prove performance in “real life” conditions.

The now infamous photographs of the End of Life turbine blade graveyard has been a real catalyst to pushing sustainability and End of Life solutions up the priority list and discussed at Board level. Stakeholders within the industry are keen to be seen to embrace sustainability and take great pride in environmental and sustainability performance. This report will look at aspects such as production waste and Life Cycle Analysis (LCAs) as well as the viable options for dealing with the impending volumes of End of Life blade material and a need for circularity, but set against the current economic dynamics and challenges of lowering unit costs. It will also look at what we mean by sustainability; is it recyclability or extension of blade life for example.

Gain a strong understanding of the scale of the market, market dynamics, the changing market shares of the key participants, and key sustainability issues.

Pre-completion offer price available until 31 December 2022, complete the enquiry form for more info.

Background

Definitions, segmentation, scope, raw materials, methodology and abbreviations.

 

Executive summary

An overview of the main conclusions and summary data.

 

Size and structure of the wind turbine industry

  • Current and forecast wind turbine investment
  • Structure of the wind turbine blade supply chain
  • Global blade trade
  • Quality standards and certification

 

Section 1: Global supply and demand by material

  • Fibre reinforcement
  • Resin
  • Core materials
  • Adhesive
  • Coatings

 

Section 2: Blade technology

  • Key issues and events
  • Blade sizes (length, weight and power rating)
  • Wind turbine blade components
  • Blade manufacturing processes (infusion, integrated infusion and prepreg)
  • Other issues (segmented blades, automation and advanced blade features) 

 

Section 3: Sustainability

  • Scale of the impending End of Life Issue
  • What is 'Sustainability'
  • Recycled versus Recyclable
  • Challenges
  • End of Life: Recover, Repurpose & Reuse
  • Possible Future Trends

 

Section 4: Materials technology

Summary information is provided on the main materials to aid non-technical readers.

 

Section 5-8: Europe, North America, Asia, Rest of the World

Each region is discussed in detail to ensure key issues are explored. For each region, detailed material supply/demand is provided as well as details on specific countries.

 

The study is based on the following scope, segmentation and conventions:

Product scope

The study investigates and quantifies demand by material segmented into:

  • Fibre (glass and carbon)
  • Resin (epoxy and polyester)
  • Core materials (Balsa, PVC, PET and SAN)
  • Adhesives (epoxy, polyurethane and vinyl ester)
  • Coatings (polyurethane, polyester and epoxy)

Application scope

The application scope for this study is commercial wind turbine blades.

Units of measure

The study reports on the markets in terms of usage of materials (fibre reinforcement, resin, core materials, adhesives and coatings) in tonnes and approximate financial values in Euros (€). Core materials are also reported by volume (‘000 m3).

Reporting basis

The study provides historic material demand (2017, 2019 and 2022) and forecasts for the years 2023 and 2027. More than 60 tables and 100 figures (charts, pictures and diagrams) are presented to give greater detail and understanding of the market and industry.With a lot of sustainability technologies and methods in their early stages, there are not massive amounts of data but this report will look at the likely volumes of End of Life blade material over the coming years and the volumes of recoverable material we might be able to recover and use.

Geographical scope

The geographic scope is the world market, segmented into:

  • Europe (inc. CIS region)
  • North America (Canada and the US, exc. Mexico)
  • Asia
  • Latin America (inc. Mexico)
  • Africa
  • Rest of World (ROW)

The report is supplied as a downloadable PDF with an enterprise-wide license agreement. One printed hard copy of the report is also provided.

To receive a proposal, sample pages or for further information please click the Enquire/Order button above.

For further information please contact Santiago Castro

 

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