Collaboration Opportunity: Advanced Design and Development of Multi-Rotor Wind Turbines for Onshore Remote Environments (ADDMORE).

The project will conduct advanced design and development of a truly modular wind turbine concept, the Myriad Multi-Rotor Wind Turbine (MRWT). The Myriad turbine consists of numerous small rotors in place of one larger rotor as seen on conventional turbines. The multiple rotors are supported by a modular lattice frame, allowing all components of the turbine to be transported on standard HGVs. This opens up remote, hard-to-reach sites that have great wind resource but cannot be serviced by large single rotor turbines.

With all major components now at a manageable size and manufactured without specialised facilities, barriers to entry to the supply chain are removed, resulting in a more diverse supply chain across Europe. This not only removes bottlenecks, which can lead to expensive and lengthy delays to wind projects, but also allows for projects to utilise local content, further reducing transport emissions.

Using smaller blades opens up opportunities for sustainable blade design using alternative materials such as thermoplastics, sustainable composites, or light weight metals. This project will have a focus on developing a sustainable blade with recyclability and a circular economy at the heart of the design process. 

In this project, key subsystems that are crucial to the successful deployment of the Myriad turbine are developed and tested at full scale, raising TRLs of these subsystems to TRL7. The following subsystems are developed in this project:

·     Standardised 250kW Rotor Nacelle Assemblies (RNA’s) are taken from TRL2 to TRL7 (This includes sustainable blades)

·      Myriads Modular frame is taken from TRL 3 to TRL6/7

·      Tower is taken from TRL 3 to TRL 5.

This project also includes detailed life cycle assessment to ensure that the Myriad turbine is providing a more sustainable wind turbine solution. Supply chain analysis is also conducted to quantify the increase in supply chain participants as a result of the Myriad turbine design, accompanied by economic impact assessments to demonstrate the European benefit realisable with the Myriad turbine.

The project consortium consists of Myriad Wind Energy Systems (Scotland), Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) (Germany), and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) (Scotland). We are looking to add project partners in eligible European countries that can assist with the development of standardised 250 kW rotor nacelle assemblies and manufacturing partners that can make turbines blades (either conventional glass fibre or sustainable materials) in the region of 13m in length. We are also interested in talking to component developers/suppliers such as generator and drive train component manufacturers, and power electronic converter suppliers. In addition we are interested in talking to energy suppliers and wind farm developers regarding advisory board positions for the project.

Please contact Myriad CTO Paul Pirrie at paul.pirrie@myriadwind.com if you would like to discuss this opportunity further.