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