SGL ! Produkte - Märkte - Chancen

Two officials from SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers, the  carbon fiber manufacturing joint venture of the SGL Group (Wiesbaden,  Germany) and the BMW Group (Munich, Germany), sat down with  CompositesWorld at the JEC Composites show in Paris last week and  provided additional details regarding the new carbon fiber plant the  company announced for Washington state and the BMW Megacity Vehicle that  will use that carbon fiber.

Adreas Wüllner and Jörg Pohlman, both  managing directors, confirmed that the new carbon fiber facility  announced for Moses Lake, Wash., will be built on 60 acres with initial  capacity of 3,000 metric tons per year of 50k standard tow carbon fiber  coming off of two lines (1,500 metric tons each). Both officials noted  that 60 acres allow much room for expansion and hinted additional lines  likely will be added as demand increases. "All partners have committed  to a growth pattern so that if the car is successful, we can increase  capacity quickly," said Wüllner.

Initial speculation has suggested  that the Megacity Vehicle will be based on the BMW Mini design, but  Wüllner and Pohlman said this was not the case. BMW did build several  all-electric developmental versions of the Mini for customer and market  testing, but the Megacity Vehicle will be a different all-electric,  purpose-designed car made specifically to incorporate a carbon fiber  chassis, as well as other carbon fiber parts. 

The biggest  question about the Megacity Vehicle surrounds manufacture of the carbon  fiber chassis. BMW, said Wüllner and Pohlman, has developed an RTM  (resin transfer molding)-based, non-autoclave process that allows it to  quickly manufacture structures from noncrimp carbon fiber fabrics. The  details of this process were not revealed, but it appears that BMW has  cleared the manufacturing cycle time barrier that for so long has  prevented use of carbon fiber in chassis members of production  automobiles. "Had BMW not found a solution," said Wüllner, "this joint  venture would not be possible."

Price point of the Megacity  Vehicle, both men said, is unknown, primarily because of the immaturity  of the electric car market. Even by 2020, they said, the market share  for all-electric vehicles will only be about 5 to 15 percent, so  although the electric market is growing quickly, it does not appear set  to rapidly overtake traditional combustion vehicles. The question for  now, they said, is this: What premium will customers pay for a carbon  fiber chassis vehicle vs. a traditional steel chassis vehicle? Wüllner  suggested that carmakers may evolve to the point of offering vehicles  with chassis made either of steel or carbon fiber, with the latter more  expensive, but lighter and thus more efficient and less polluting. The  Megacity Vehicle is currently scheduled for market introduction  "sometime in the first half of this decade."

SGL Automotive Carbon  Fibers hopes to make more design and manufacturing information  available by the end of the year.

REpower Systems AG (Hamburg, Germany), together with  Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld und Infrastruktur-GmbH (DOTI) and additional  project partners, announced on April 26 that they will celebrate the  taking into operation of the first German offshore wind farm, alpha  ventus. In addition, the wind turbine manufacturer will announce that  due to the great demand for offshore systems, planning will begin on the  expansion of production capacities. The REpower 5M and 6M turbines used  at alpha ventus are currently being assembled in Bremerhaven, Germany.

The  Bremerhaven site is designed for the production of around 100 turbines  per year. “In spite of extensive framework agreements, such as with RWE  Innogy, for example, it's still possible to schedule additional orders  into production,” emphasized Norbert Giese, senior vice president of the  business unit offshore of REpower Systems AG. However, with increasing  demand, there may not be sufficient resources in the future. “For this  reason, we have started with planning for the expansion of production  capacities. We want to be prepared to double or triple production within  16 to 18 months, if our customers should demand this. Currently,  several variants are being reviewed, including an expansion of  the production facilities in Bremerhaven, or even the erection of a new  site, such as in Great Britain, for example. In the projects planned for  that location, there is great interest in our products as well.”

REpower  has specialized in multi-megawatt-class turbines that can be installed  in deep waters and at a great distance from the shore, in order to  optimally use the wind conditions on the open sea. Already in 2004, the  prototype of the REpower 5M was installed in Brunsbüttel, followed by  two systems in the Scottish North Sea in 2006. Even now, these turbines  of the project “Beatrice,” which are standing in waters with a depth of  44m/144 ft, hold the record for the northern-most location and the  greatest water depth.

“So far, we are also very pleased with the  operation of the six REpower turbines in the Belgian wind farm Thornton  Bank”, Giese reports. He continues: “Nearly all of the previous  offshore projects were nearshore wind farms in comparatively shallow  waters and were implemented nearer to the coast. With alpha ventus,  located 70 km/43 miles from the German coastline, as well as the  farshore wind farms installed off the coasts of Scotland and Belgium,  REpower has now gained a significant edge in terms of experience.”

The  company has installed a total of 26 type 5M and 6M systems in onshore  and offshore locations so far.