The wind energy market has been growing at a 27% (CAGR) over the last 5 years in terms of new MW installation and is forecast to grow at double digits over the next 5 years. The wind energy market will require technical innovation to make wind more competitive with other forms of energy. It is critical to improve performance by designing and manufacturing more efficient, reliable and lighter blades that can reduce the loads on the main turbine components and significantly lower total system costs.

To explore and discuss these ideas, Lucintel is conducting a webinar entitled “Emerging Technology Trends in the Wind Energy Market” on May 28, 2009 (9:00 am – 11:30 am EST). This webinar will discuss innovations and technological advancements related to the wind energy market, with main focus on wind blade design and manufacturing. Key questions covered will be length of next generation blades, implications these will have for new materials and strategies for lowering cost and improving blade reliability and performance.

Participants would be able to gather key insights from experts like Carl LaFrance of MFG (GE blade manufacturer) who will detail component design, materials, tooling, process, and transportation considerations for blade manufacturing. Dr. Gregor Daun from BASF will cover the use of fast curing epoxy system for minimizing investments and to dilute fix costs in blade production while Norman Timmins from Lucintel will explain the technological developments that are expected to drive improved costs and benefits. Dr. Olivier Guillermin of Vistagy will elaborate on novel manufacturing methods to rapidly develop new and larger cost effective and reliable blade designs. Rani Richardson from Dassault Systems will show how to utilize potential opportunities to optimize the expertise, IC and design characteristics of rotorcraft blade design for the wind blade market.

This webinar provides participants with unique opportunity to learn technological trends and how to profit from these changes, in a cost-effective manner.  To learn more about this webinar, visit www.lucintel.com/webinar-wind.pdf or email to Tushita Roy at tushita.roy@lucintel.com. This webinar is sponsored by Lucintel, which provides cutting edge decision support services that help you make critical decisions with greater speed, insight and cost-efficiency. To find out more, visit www.lucintel.com.