Wind Turbine Composite Materials Market
Compared to 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in 1997, the worldwide wind power generation capacity sharply rose to 564 GW by 2018, as per the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In 2018 alone, 51 GW of wind power generation capacity was added, says the International Energy Agency (IEA). While onshore wind turbines have already been providing a major chunk of renewable energy for some time now, the erection of offshore windmills is also increasing rapidly.
Therefore, with the growing focus on harnessing the natural energy of the wind to create electricity, the wind turbine composite materials market is also growing around the world. The idea is simple: with an increase in the number of windmills being established, the amount of raw materials that are used to construct them will also rise. The turbine is the most important component of such a system, as this is what actually taps the energy of the wind and transfers it to the generator, by rotating the connecting shaft, whereby electricity is produced by electromagnetic induction.
With the rising pollution levels, governments around the world are targeting rapid reduction in the production of energy from fossil fuels and increment in the amount being generated via green methods. In several countries, feed-in tariffs are offered to utilities which generate electricity from renewable resources, such as the sun and wind. Similarly, financial support is being provided in the form of tax benefits and other schemes in several nations, to make purchasing wind power generating equipment easier, which is further leading to a surging demand for composite materials.
electricity generation ability
Apart from the number of wind towers, even their production capacity is surging. The electricity generation ability is directly proportional to the diameter of the rotor, which itself depends on the length of the turbine blade. Therefore, longer the rotor diameter, higher the amount of power produced. IRENA says that in 1985, the typical diameter of the rotor was 15 meters, and the power output of an individual wind tower was 0.05 megawatts (MW). Now, the power output has increased massively to 8 MW, and the rotors are up to 164 meters across. Thus, with the lengthening of the blades, the demand for composite materials for their manufacturing is also rising.
The reason composites are used for constructing wind turbines is that the materials needs to be light enough.
to generate maximum rotation when driven by the wind and also strong enough to not break in strong gusts.
Since composites are light as well as strong, thereby fulfilling both these requirements.
they are the material of choice for manufacturing the various components of the wind turbines.
such as the blades and nacelles.
As stated above, the amount of electricity produced depends on the length of the blades.
which is why higher amounts of composite materials are utilized for the construction of blades, compared to nacelles.
Geographically
Asia-Pacific (APAC) has been the largest wind turbine composite materials market.
historically, which is because it is the largest producer of wind energy in the world.
The two largest onshore wind farms on earth are in China and India.
which have a cumulative capacity to generate around 8.5 GW of clean electricity.
In 2017, of the total wind energy generation capacity added throughout the world.
around 50% was added in China alone, according to the oil supermajor BP PLC.
Due to the rising enactment of stringent environmental regulations and policies.
the adoption of renewable energy sources is increasing rapidly across the world.
Globally, various organizations are formulating stringent standards aimed at mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases.
This is boosting the popularity of clean energy sources such as wind energy.
For example, in Germany, the Renewable Energy Sources Act has resulted in the implementation of fixed feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for various power utilities that are producing renewable energy.
Wind energy is a clean and renewable source of energy. According to reports and surveys, the cumulative installed capacity of wind power plants all over the world increased from 47.6 GW in 2004 to 369.6 GW in 2014 and this trend is likely to continue in the coming years. This is propelling the sales of wind turbine composite materials. The governments of many countries are implementing wind energy production targets for fulfilling their power requirements over the next few years.
Renewable energy sources
Besides the aforementioned factors, the rising environmental degradation and global warming are also contributing toward the soaring popularity of renewable energy sources such as wind energy across the world. This is driving the progress of the global wind turbine composite materials market. There are mainly two types of wind turbine composite materials used around the world namely resin and fiber. Between these, the usage of the fiber wind turbine composite materials was found to be the highest in the past.
Between the carbon and glass fiber composite materials, the sales of the latter are predicted to rise enormously in the forthcoming years. Furthermore, the demand for carbon fiber wind turbine composite materials will grow sharply in the upcoming years, as per the estimates of P&S Intelligence, a market research company based in India. This will be due to the fact that the carbon fibers are increasingly being used for manufacturing wind turbine blades because of their low-weight and high-strength characteristics.
Wind blade and nacelle are the two main application areas of wind turbine composite materials. Of these, the usage of these materials was observed to be the highest in the wind blades during the last few years. Moreover, the requirement for wind turbine composite materials is predicted to surge in wind blades in the upcoming years. This will be because of the growing requirement for wind energy around the world.
wind blades
The development of wind blades that deliver high power output is further boosting the demand for composite materials. Geographically, the sales of wind turbine composite materials are predicted to explode in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region in the coming years, on account of the surging wind power production capacity of the region. The total installed wind power capacity in this region rose from 1.1 GW in 2012 to 2.5 GW in 2014.
With the escalating pollution levels.
the governments of many countries are focusing on encouraging the use of renewable energy sources for power generation.
Moreover, the rapid depletion of natural resources such as fossil fuels, owing to their exploitation.
is further boosting the demand for clean alternative energy sources such as wind.
Owing to these reasons, the governments of several countries are implementing policies aimed at augmenting wind power generation.
which is, in turn, pushing up the demand for wind turbine composite materials.
Besides, the enactment of strict environmental regulations by many governments and organizations.
in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, is also propelling the popularity of wind energy.
For example, in Germany, the Renewable Energy Sources Act 2011 has mentioned fixed feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for the power utilities.
that are producing renewable energy in the country.
Likewise, the governments of various other countries are providing financial support, schemes, and tax benefits.
to organizations for purchasing equipment required for producing wind energy.
This is further boosting the requirement for wind turbine composite materials.
carbon fibers
The popularity of carbon fibers is also soaring.
on account of the fact that these fibers have low weight and exhibit high strength.
Nacelle and wind blades are the major application areas of wind turbine composite materials.
Between these, the usage of wind turbine composite materials was observed.
to be higher in the production of wind blades during the last few years.
The sales of wind turbine composite materials were found to be the highest in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in 2015.
This was because of the fact that the cumulative wind power generation capacity in the region surged.
from 100.8 GW in 2012 to 146.4 GW in 2014.
which caused a massive rise in the demand for wind turbine composite materials.
In APAC, the demand for these materials was the highest in China in the years gone by.
The total capacity of wind power in the country rose from 75.3 GW in 2012 to 114.6 GW in 2014.
Hence, it can be said with surety.
that the demand for wind turbine composite materials will surge sharply in the forthcoming years.
primarily because of the rising popularity of wind energy, on account of the growing requirement for renewable energy.
due to the escalating pollution levels and rapid depletion of fossil fuels across the world.
Therefore, it can be said with full confidence.
that the demand for wind turbine composite materials will skyrocket all over the world in the future years.
mainly because of the rising adoption of wind energy for various commercial, industrial, and residential purposes in many countries.
Hence, as more wind towers are erected, the demand for composite materials for the turbines will keep growing.
