The work performed during the reporting period concern on: market analysis for innovative wind blades (market trends, competitors check, competitive arena form MEWi-B); winds blades State of the Art Analysis and scouting of technology and patent by literature analysis; assess on-site performance of pre-prototyped blades and definition of the final technical/production specifications of the new wind blades; elaboration of business plan.
The main results achieved so far are: the identification of the key target market and customer segment in wind farm operators in Italy and Spain, possessing 10 years old or more WT(wind blades length 24m), foreseeing the very concrete possibility of opening up to the whole European market, producing new wind blades for every wind farm operator with 10 years old or more wind blades, up to 40 m long; the number of potential replacing old blades; test of pre prototyped blades in real relevant environment (Images 1-2) with first over performance results more than 20%; progress on TRL, from 6 to Level 7 due to the simulation re-blading operation on old WT; intellectual property strategy proposition about aerodynamic profile’s innovative design European patent application, utility model acquisition to protect innovative coating and eco-sustainable materials use, and potential registration of trademark with a brand strategy; business plan drafting (gross profit margin expected on revues generated by new blades is about 49% 3 years after the project, while the payback period is approximately 18 months after the project).
