FLYING FACTORY

Drone-based automated repair for wind turbine blades, reducing downtime and CO2 emissions.

Wind turbine blades suffer from repetitive maintenance issues. Repairs are currently done manually by specialised rope-access workers, which is a costly and slow process. In addition, there is a lack of manpower, which is projected to grow to a shortage of 150 000 repair technicians. Funded by the European Innovation Council, the flying factory project will support Danish start-up Reblade’s drone-based solution for the automated repair of wind turbine blades. The innovative solution will lower the levelised cost of wind energy, offering a 90 % reduction in turbine downtime during leading edge erosion repairs. Reblade’s repair drone is usable by non-specialised workers. Moreover, it will reduce the current 4,5 days for manual repairs down to just 4,5 hours, and reduce CO2 by 2.4 million tonnes by 2031 and up to 12.6 million tonnes by 2040.