Almaco creates wind committee

Sharing knowledge and opening new opportunities for composite materials. These are the goals of the Wind Committee, a body that was recently created by the Latin American Composite Materials Association (Almaco). In a move similar to the establishment of a successful Automotive Committee back in 2009, the group will gear its activities towards the wind power market, holding presentations, technical discussions and debates at companies that manufacture wind turbine components, such as blades, spinners, and nacelles, and companies that put these components together.

Joined with specialists in the area of composites, in addition to representatives from universities and from the Brazilian Association of Wind Power (ABEEólica), Almaco’s Wind Committee aims to, on the whole, promote good practices for the technology and use of the material. “The activities will address many different themes, such as useful life of wind blades, how to improve rolled products, maintenance, repair work, and reverse logistics,” says Waldomiro Moreira, coordinator of Almaco’s Wind Committee.

The first event will take place on August 29, at GE Renewable Energy, followed by an event at Gamesa with date to be decided. In addition to these two, Acciona, Siemens, Vestas, WEG, and Wobben Energy have already shown interest in welcoming the multi-discipline team of the Wind Committee.

“Almaco will not stop at presentations. If any questions and opportunities that cannot be answered during the event itself arise, we’ll use our in and outflows of knowledge to search for answers and solutions, always focusing on increasing the segment’s performance and competitiveness,” says Gilmar Lima, president of Almaco.

Last year, wind power accounted for 95.6% of the demand for epoxy composites in Brazil – the only segment, in fact, to grow during this period (+4.5%). In volume, that percentage means that 55,000 tons of the material were consumed in the production of wind turbine components.