Leverkusen, Germany -- Bayer MaterialScience announced 12 May that it will set up a global competence and development centre for wind energy at its site in Otterup, Denmark. This new centre will spearhead and coordinate the global development activities for advanced materials used in wind-energy applications.
BMS has appointed Kim Harnow Klausen to lead the new centre in addition to his current responsibility as managing director of Bayer MaterialScience A/S, Denmark.
According to Bayer, this move underlines its commitment to developing innovative and sustainable materials and technologies for generating power from renewable sources.
The centre will bundle the development capabilities from BMS' entire portfolio of polyurethanes, polycarbonates, coatings, adhesives and specialties materials, pooling expertise from research and development teams around the world.
"This is an exciting step in the area of sustainable energy supply that will help open new horizons in the wind-power industry," commented Bayer MaterialScience ceo Patrick Thomas, in a company announcement.
Thomas sees this step as an opportunity to deploy the company's expertise in chemistry and processing to help cut the cost of generating energy from wind turbines.
BMS said it plans to extend the PU systems house in Otterup, by building on solutions for wind turbine applications that include raw materials for coatings and adhesives, carbon nanotubes, matrix materials and production processes for rotor blades, as well as fibre composite materials and production processes for nacelles.
An example of new technology here is a hybrid system from Bayer for making rotor blades based on vacuum infusion technology, which can significantly reduce the cost of generating energy.
BMS sees Denmark as an obvious site for this work, as it has expertise in wind power and a leading position in energy efficiency. Data from the Danish Wind Industry Association (DWIA) shows that wind power already accounts for more than 20 percent of the total power consumption in Denmark, and the country plans to increase this to up to 50 percent by 2020.
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