Innovative manufacturing of wind energy technologies

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Energy consumers have access to affordable, clean, and secure energy with lower environmental impacts and improved health and safety working conditions along the entire value chain;
• The European wind energy supply chain strengthens its strategic autonomy, technology leadership, competitiveness, and technology export potential;
• The deployment of wind energy in Europe is facilitated thanks to innovations enabling large-volume manufacturing therefore contributing to the achievement of the Net Zero Industry Act.

Scope:Proposals are expected to address at least three of the following aspects:

• Develop and demonstrate innovative wind energy manufacturing technologies that improve the health and safety working conditions of staff along the supply chain;
• Develop and demonstrate innovative wind energy manufacturing technologies that allow for reduced energy and material consumption, increased circularity, lower costs and decreased pollution;
• Develop and demonstrate automated and/or semi-automated manufacturing solutions that ensure high-quality products, high productivity, increase the lifetime and the reliability of wind energy systems;
• Develop and demonstrate manufacturing solutions for wind energy technologies that allow for high production throughput, optimisation of logistics and transport of components and reduced impacts on the environment, cultural heritage, landscapes and people.

The project could, for instance, support the development of innovative manufacturing solutions for onshore and/or offshore wind energy production, including airborne wind energy. It could focus on specific components of a wind energy system (e.g., blades, nacelles and towers, gearboxes, foundations, generators, floaters, mooring systems, anchors, kites, etc.).

The project should analyse and report on the potential for standardisation of the solutions developed, as well as on possible connections with ongoing standardisation efforts.

The project must include a clear go/no-go milestone ahead of entering the demonstration phase. Before this go/no-go milestone, the project must deliver the detailed engineering plans, a techno-economic assessment, and all needed permits for the demonstrator. The project proposal is expected to present a clear and convincing pathway and timeline to obtaining the permits.

The project must assess the sustainability of the proposed solutions in environmental and socio-economic terms.

The demonstration must be at a realistic, representative scale and must cover a continuous interval of at least six months.

When developing improvements along the supply chain to improve the health and safety working conditions, projects must give special consideration to the gender dimension.

Whenever the expected exploitation of project results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results must include a strategy for such exploitation. The exploitation plan should include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan) indicating the possible funding sources to be potentially used (in particular the Innovation Fund).