UMaine Awarded Funding to Accelerate Wind Rotor Blade Development

The University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center has been awarded $2.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to develop a rapid, low-cost additive manufacturing — 3D printing — solution for fabricating large, segmented wind blade molds.

In addition, the UMaine Composites Center will collaborate on a $4 million award to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to apply robotic deposition of continuous reinforcing fibers in wind blades. Currently, innovation in large wind blade technology is a costly and time-intensive process. Molds and tooling for large blades can cost upward of $10 million. The time to market of 16–20 months stifles innovation in this growing market. “The... ... More: Official Press Release UMaine

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