Dr. Sabrina Malpede Interview

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Hi Sabrina! Please tell us, what is the main challenge facing the Rotor Blade industry, in your opinion?

The rotor blade industry is currently facing many challenges: some are related to the contingent events, like the surge of cost of prime materials, some are related to the accelerated increase of the blades size, like supply chain management, transportation, lead time, end-of-life management. In my opinion, all these challenges have a common reason. For decades, the industry has been under-pressure to constantly reduce the blade production costs. As a result, the industry has been asked to develop longer blades and this race for the longest blade is still causing the adoption of small incremental improvements mainly in the areas of materials and manufacturing processes. There has been no space for the industry to adopt and consolidate new blade technologies, or new manufacturing technique, as it happened within the automotive industry. And I think that, the pressure on blade cost and production capacity have reduced the opportunity for the industry to adopt new technologies, not tested for decades. My wish is that the current shift on sustainability and increased capacity of blade will open the opportunity for novel technologies, from material to production techniques, to be adopted.

Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5 years?

The industry is going to massively grow in the next five years. Thus, there will be a constantly increasing demand for blades in all the world, as green energy is expected to power the development of materials, green hydrogen, green ammonia, and power all processes.

What are the top three cost drivers?

The three top cost drivers for me are:

• Material costs
• Labour intensive processes and
• Transportation costs

Thank you Dr. Malpede for providing your insight!

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