The OptiCore Platform project, an EUDP-funded innovation project is focused on reducing the weight of wind turbine blades, aiming to enhance energy production and lower costs. The current blades, a composite of glass and carbon fibres, wood or PET-foam, and resin, strive for an optimal balance of strength and weight.
With blades now exceeding 100 metres in length, challenges include further weight reduction, shorter development times, and increased productivity. The OptiCore Platform project, supported by Energy Cluster Denmark, aims to optimise core material properties, resin flow, and mechanical features through collaborative efforts. The ultimate goal is to develop design software using algorithms to quickly achieve optimal solutions, contributing to more efficient, sustainable, and recyclable blades, benefitting the entire wind turbine blade production value chain. It is expected that a successful OptiCore Platform project will enable a shorter production time and less material consumption in the design phase, and that the reduced blade weight will enable 2% longer blades corresponding to 4% increased rotor area and thereby increased energy production. Partners in the OptiCore Platform project are Energy Cluster Denmark, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Nordex Energy, DTU Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Gurit, and DTU Wind and Energy Systems.
