Innovative rail transport of a supersized land-based wind turbine blade

William Scott Carron,Pietro Bortolotti

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1618/4/042041

William Scott Carron, Pietro Bortolotti

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1618/4/042041

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Abstract

Wind turbine blade logistic providers are being challenged with escalating costs and routing complexities as one-piece blade approach lengths of 75 m in various regions of the U.S. land-based market. New lower cost solutions are needed to enable further reductions in the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and continued market expansion. In this paper, a novel method of using existing U.S. rail infrastructure to deploy 100-m, one-piece blades to U.S. land-based wind sites is numerically investigated. The study removes the constraint that blades must be kept rigid during transport, and it allows bending to keep blades within a clearance profile while navigating horizontal and vertical curvatures. Novel system optimization and blade design processes consider blade structural constraints and rail logistic constraints in parallel to develop a highly flexible, rail-transportable blade. Results indicate maximum deployment potential in the Interior region of the United States and limited deployment potential in other regions. The study concludes that innovative rail transportation solutions combined with advanced rotor technologies can provide a feasible alternative to segmentation and support continued LCOE reductions in the U.S. land-based wind energy market.

Highlights

In the U.S land-based wind energy market, the average rotor diameter has increased steadily during the past 20 years to 115.6 m in 2018 [1]
The BAR00 blade was designed without specific logistic constraints, and the prebend and maximum chord are found limiting the rail transport to horizontal curves up to 6 degrees
Work This work presents a study on the transportability of 100-m long wind turbine blades across the U.S rail system via controlled blade flexing

Summary

Introduction

In the U.S land-based wind energy market, the average rotor diameter has increased steadily during the past 20 years to 115.6 m in 2018 [1]. Impressive, this average is dwarfed by the recent global land-based turbine platform introductions, such as the GE 5.3-MW Cypress turbine with a 158-m rotor, the Vestas 5.6-MW EnVentus turbine with a 162-m rotor, and the SGRE 5.8-MW turbine with a 170-m rotor. The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) held a Supersized Wind Turbine Blades Workshop in Washington, D.C., from March 6–7, 2018, to identify additional pathways that could enable continued reduction in LCOE and increased U.S market expansion.

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Conclusion