Usage of advanced thick airfoils for the outer part of very large offshore turbines

Nowadays one of the big challenges in wind energy is connected to the development of very large wind turbines with 100 m blades and 8-10MW power production. The European project INNWIND.EU plays an important role in this challenge because it is focused on exploring and exploiting technical innovations to make these machines not only feasible but also cost effective. In this context, the present work investigates the benefits of adopting thick airfoils also at the outer part of the blade. In fact, if these airfoils are comparable to the existing thinner ones in terms of aerodynamics, the extra thickness would lead to a save in weight. Lightweight blades would visibly contribute to reduce the cost of energy of the turbines and make them cost effective. The reference turbine defined in INNWIND.EU project has been adjusted to use the new airfoils. The results show that the rotor performance is not sacrificed when the 24% airfoils are replaced by the ECN 30% thick airfoils, while 24% extra thickness can be obtained.