US company Zoltek wins major order for turbine blades

St Louis-based carbon fibre major Zoltek has clinched another huge 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 $75m (E58m) over the first three years of the contract. Fiberblade parent Gamesa Eolica is the world’s second largest supplier of wind turbines with carbon fibre reinforced blades, after Denmark’s Vestas concern. Tim McCarthy, vp sales and marketing at Zoltek, said: “This agreement represents the culmination of several years of extensive work in supporting the testing and qualification of our Panex 35 fibre with European customers and partners.”

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 $80m-$100m (E62m-E77m) 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.