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Sandia hosts 2010 Wind Turbine Blade Workshop

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories will hold its 2010 Wind Turbine Blade Workshop July 20-22 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Sandia Wind Turbine Blade Workshop provides a collaborative venue for all researchers and industry participants involved in any facet of blade design, analysis, or manufacture.  Blade researchers, industry participants, government, material suppliers and consultants will find informative and useful discussions and activities.

The core workshop cover aerodynamics and blade design, design and analysis codes, and materials. Other topics include blade testing, sensors, small wind, water power, radar and reliability. In the manufacturers panel participants will discuss their current products and plans for future products. Manufacturers will also describe current direction of the industry and discuss research and materials breakthroughs.

Further information, registration details and an updated preliminary agenda are now available online.

“I’m excited about the truly world-class caliber of the presenters,” Sandia researcher Daniel Laird said. “They include the world’s largest turbine manufacturers (Vestas, General Electric), the largest independent blade manufacturers (LM Wind Power, TPI Composites), the largest material suppliers (Owens Corning, PPG Industries, Dow Chemical Company, BASF), and the world’s leading wind research laboratories (Sandia National Laboratories, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Risoe National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Wind turbine Materials and Constructions).”

The Wind and Water Power Technologies group at Sandia conducts applied wind energy research aimed at increasing the viability of wind technology by improving wind turbine performance and reducing energy cost. The program consists of two major programmatic areas: Low Wind Speed Technology (LWST) for onshore installations, and offshore development. Sandia conducts Supporting Research and Technology (SR&T) for each of these program elements.

In the LWST area, Sandia is supporting several public-private partnerships for large wind systems to achieve the Department of Energy program goals. Sandia’s work focuses on blade design and manufacturing. In SR&T, Sandia conducts enabling research on blades in several targeted areas directly related to achieving LWST goals.

In the offshore area, Sandia supports the offshore program and industry by investigating both novel large blade architectures and quantifying the design challenges (wind and wave loading) associated with deploying offshore turbines.

“We hope the event spurs further innovation and collaboration to enable future development of higher efficiency and reliable machines that can continue to lead this nation’s clean energy push,” said Jose Zayas, manager of Sandia’s Wind and Water Power Technologies group.

Due to limited availability, media wishing to attend should contact Stephanie Holinka at (505) 284-9227 or sholin@sandia.gov by July 19 to arrange for badging and escort.

If you have not attended any previous workshops and would like to be notified about upcoming workshops and other future events, please subscribe to the workshop email list (include mailing address and email address).


Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

Sandia media relations contact: Stephanie Holinka, slholin@sandia.gov (505) 284-9227