Harvesting energy from wind

In late 2019, the European Union unveiled its ‘Green Deal’ – a roadmap of actions which will help to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean and circular economy. Increasing the availability of renewable energy – and wind in particular – is a cornerstone of the Green Deal and will see wind energy account for at least half of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050. Meeting this demand will require Europe to install over twice as much new wind energy each year as it managed in 2019. Achieving that target will require significant efforts from electrical steel producers, and manufacturers of wind power generators such as ArcelorMittal customer, Indar Wind Energy.

One of the key challenges for Indar is the rapid development of new technologies and specifications for wind turbines. “Just five years ago, the design for a wind energy generator would have been used for 8 to 10 years,” explains Xabier Irure, global commercial director for Indar. “Today, three to five years is the life expectancy of a design. Within that time, an improved design will be launched. That implies more product validations, shorter time-to-market, and more complexity.”