Zoltek wins major order for turbine blades

Zoltek has clinched an order from the wind turbine blade industry with an agreement to supply Spain’s Fiberblade. The US company’s latest success is valued at up to US$ 75 million (€ 58 million) over the first three years of the contract. The company is now engaged in a three-stage expansion programme involving re-start of an idled line in Texas and investment in its operations in Hungary, where Zoltek is planning to raise capacity of carbon fibre to 9,000 tonnes a year by 2007. Zoltek won an US$ 80–100 million (€ 62–77 million) order to supply market leader Vestas with carbon fibre in December. The fibre is employed with a resin matrix, usually epoxy, generating a big and growing market for suppliers to the business which is expanding at nearly 20% a year.