Reichhold’s Technology Center in Sandefjord, Norway has been granted 7,1 mill NOK (approximately 1 mill EUR) over a 3 year period for the RenWind project under the Norwegian Research Council’s clean energy program.
The RenWind project’s objective is to develop environmentally friendly and cost-efficient high performance no emission vinyl hybrid resin systems for production of windmill blades.
The funds are to be used on external tests and research work. Equivalent amount of work will have to be performed by Reichhold internally. Partnerships have been formed with several renowned institutes like SINTEF Materials and Chemistry (MC) and DTU Wind Energy, Section for Composites and Materials Mechanics (Former Risø National Laboratory).
SINTEF MC is an institute in the largest independent research organization in Scandinavia. The Institute offers a high level of expertise in the fields of materials science and nanotechnology, applied chemistry and bio-technology. They collaborate closely with industry in the development of advanced materials, products, processes and tools.
DTU Wind Energy is known as the most competent European Research Institute on composite solutions for Wind energy.
Technology Director for Europe Egil Holtmon says: “This is an acknowledgement of the research work performed in Reichhold over years and recognizes Reichhold as one of the leaders in innovation in the Composites industry.
Wind energy will continue to be one of the strongest growth segments for composite materials in the coming years. By introducing vinyl hybrid systems with low or no VOC emission, we aim at providing innovative, sustainable materials which can contribute to the growth of wind energy by offering more cost-efficient solutions compared to currently used materials, like epoxy.”