Windflow 500 wins NZ Timber Design Award

Windflow 500 wins NZ Timber Design Award

Last night, Windflow Technology’s innovative wind turbine, the Windflow 500, was a joint winner of the Clever Wood Solutions Award and was also highly commended in the Outdoor Infrastructure category of the NZ Timber Design Awards. The awards were presented at a gala evening at Te Papa in Wellington.

The blades of the Windflow 500 are made of laminated NZ Pinus Radiata. Other wind turbine manufacturers use various components for wind turbine blades, usually a composite. The turbine received the Clever Wood Solutions Award due to its solution to the common difficulty with laminated timber construction being attached to other solid structures. The innovative steel connection at the blade root has been tested many times during Windflow’s IEC Certification process and has proved abundantly strong in this critical area.

The blade as a whole has been tested rigorously under static and fatigue load conditions. Following the latest fatigue test at IRL’s facilities in Auckland, the blade has been certified by Lloyd’s Register as meeting the requirements of IEC Technical Specification TS61400-23 for a design life of twenty years in high wind and high turbulence conditions. The blades are manufactured by Windflow Technology subsidiary Wind Blades in Auckland.

ENDS

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