 "Image courtesy: Tata Power Renewable Energy")
Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd (MRC) and Danish firm Fiberline Composites have agreed to form a joint venture company manufacturing and distributing carbon fibre composite laminates for wind turbine blades.
Mitsubishi Rayon will supply high-performance large tow carbon fibre produced at its Otake Production Centre to the joint venture based in Denmark. The JV will leverage the moulding and processing technologies of Fiberline, a composite pultrusion manufacturer, to enable light-weight, price competitive composite laminates supply to the wind turbine blade market.
In recent years, the size of wind turbine blades have become longer as the widespread installation of off-shore wind power systems and the increasing importance of low wind site development demand more efficient power generation. Such large-sized wind turbine blades require carbon fibres replacing conventional glass fibres due to their rigidity and light-weight properties.
In particular, composite laminates made in pultrusion processes are superior in composite performance and process speed compared to other carbon fibre composite materials, this being reflected in the full scale adoption of these by the world’s leading turbine manufacturer. Consequently pultruded laminates have become the industry standard. Mitsubishi Rayon will seek to expand its share in the carbon fibres wind turbine market through this joint venture.
