Nabrawind is developing the first commercial Nabrajoint modular blade for one of the top 5 OEM. The agreement reached between both companies provides for the development, manufacture and test of the Nabrajoint solution. This stage will be finished by Q4 of 2020 and the commercial manufacturing is expected to start by 2021.
Nabrajoint is a joint for modular blades developed by Nabrawind which, thanks to its robust bolted connection, requires a minimum number of inserts in the blade, making it a very competitive solution. One of the keys to this technology is the XPACER, a device that preloads the bolts in an innovative and more efficient way than conventional methods.
Eneko Sanz, founder and CEO of Nabrawind, expresses that they “are proud of reaching this agreement with one of the main leaders in the market and convinced that it will also help to accelerate customer demand and the viability of wind farms installing blades over 80m”. This way, Sanz remarks that Nabrawind “has a great deal of experience in the design and manufacturing of solutions for blades and mechanical components of wind turbines” and remarks that he is “sure to bring it to this agreement”. On this regard, Nabrawind CEO is confident on the scope of the project and states that he is “looking forward to successfully execute the agreement and further strengthen the collaboration in the future”.
Wind market trends
According to the current trends of the wind market, by 2022 half of the wind turbines installation will use a rotor over the 150 meters. By the end of the decade, rotors up to 190-200 meters are expected. This tendency makes imperative the development of solutions that simplify logistics while being cost competitive.
To this regard, Nabrawind has developed several innovative solutions to improve the LCOE of wind turbines. In this specific case, Nabrajoint, the modular blade, contributes to reduce the logistical costs of transporting the new generation of blades that exceed 80 meters in length and which, on some occasions, can make projects unfeasible.