Advanced Material Development moves to next phase for U.K. wind farm innovation project

Advanced Material Development (AMD, Surrey, U.K.) announced on June 13 that it has moved into the next phase for its radar mitigation project, a wind farm innovation project for U.K. sustainability. Funded through DASA (Defence and Security Accelerator) and the BEIS (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, AMD is working to develop and test its nanotechnology, which when integrated into a turbine’s blade structure, will reduce a wind farm’s interference with radar systems.

More specifically, AMD is developing advanced composite materials, incorporating novel low-cost, nanoscale Radar Absorbing Material (nRAM) to be included in the manufacturing stage. Collaboration with materials suppliers will ensure that radio frequency (RF) absorption capabilities are integrated into the base materials, thus reducing cost and minimizing impact on the manufacturing process.

AMD’s nanotechnology is also designed to enable additional functionality to be incorporated into wind farm structures, including embedded sensors that can monitor the turbine’s structural health, with the aim of increasing the sustainability and longevity of the blades while decreasing servicing costs.

Conflict between wind farm locations and civilian and defense radar systems is a constant challenge that the U.K. must overcome to meet its commitment to wind energy growth and net-zero targets, AMD notes. In its latest development, the organization has had early success integrating and layering its nanotechnology materials within various wind farm turbine blade composites.

“The AMD mission is to address ‘Global Challenges’ and in the need to address the U.K.’s target for sustainable independent energy sources, this is exactly the kind of project that we continue to pursue,” John Lee, chief executive officer (CEO) at AMD, says.