Feasibility Study of Pultruded Blades for Wind Turbine Rotors

In work performed under subcontract to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a preliminary design study and proof-of-concept field test were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using pultruded blades for wind turbine rotors. A 400 kW turbine was selected for the design study, and a scaled 80 kW rotor was fabricated and tested as a demonstration of the concept. To examine thefeasibility of pultruded blades, several issues were addressed, including power performance, tower strikes, yaw stability, stall flutter, fatigue, and rotor cost. Results showed that with proper design, rotors using pultruded blades demonstrate acceptable fatigue life and stable yaw behavior without tower strikes. Furthermore, blades using this technology may be manufactured for approximatelyhalf the cost of conventional blades. Field tests of the scaled rotor provided experimental data on power performance and loads while verifying stable yaw operation.