Winds of Change

Local start-up Brayfoil Technologies is fast becoming an established name in the sustainable energy sector, with their pioneering work creating shape-altering biomimetic blades for wind turbines.

- By John Whittle

NOW MORE THAN EVER, the transition to sustainable energy sources is at the forefront of that ever-buzzy buzzword, Cleantech'. Brayfoil Technologies is developing new innovations to accelerate the green revolution with their morphing blade technology inspired by birds' wings.

The minutiae of this industry are countless and as a collective, bit by bit, we're moving towards a greener future with energy production becoming markedly more sustainable. Key to this is wind power, which in and of itself is a hugely complex ecosystem of research, continued development, and innovation. The pace of wind power installation needs to accelerate significantly from its current level of 88 GW installed globally in 2021, to more than 200 GW per annum by 2030 if the world is to hit net-zero targets. In simple terms, net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gases produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. Net zero is reached when the amount of greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere is no more than the amount taken away.

What this translates to is a sevenfold growth in the demand for windpower capacity within the next 30 years with not only more turbines than ever before being required, but for each of those turbines to produce more energy per device.

THE PROBLEM

The larger the wind turbine, the greater the forces enacted on the entire structure - this is an inherent issue with large wind turbines. Aero forces are created from all wings, including wind-turbine blades; this is what allows them to generate power from the wind. However, these shapes also create forces beyond what is required to generate power, resulting in excess loadings during operation and massive loadings during storm events.