New and novel material and process technologies applied in wind blade designs and production are critical to increasing the competitiveness of wind power generation against traditional sources of energy. In this project, through collaboration between PPG Industries and MAG Industrial Automation Systems, the potential of using automated manufacturing for the production of fiber glass composite wind blades was evaluated from both technical and economic points of view. Further, it was demonstrated that by modifying the standard blade raw material forms through the use of cost effective pre-impregnated rovings coupled with using an automated fiber placement machine to lay up the parts, it is possible to produce state of the art composite laminates with significantly improved mechanical performance and with higher processing rates than standard blade production technology allows for today, thereby lowering the cost of energy over turbine blades made using traditional processes and materials. In conformity with the scope of work of the submitted proposal, the project team completed each task and documented and reported its findings on the appropriate quarterly report submitted to the DOE project team. The activities and this report are divided into 5 subtasks: (1) Material Investigation - Reviews traditional materials and key specifications and testing methods
(2) Manufacturing and Automation - Identifies new candidate material forms and automated layup processes
(3) Process Development - Performs trials of candidate materials and processes
(4) Predictive Analysis - Assesses impact of new material forms and automated processes on a model blade design
and (5) Feasibility Assessment - Compares traditional manufacturing processes and materials to new candidate material forms and automated processes.