12 Jul Offshore Wind Conference Bremen 2019

Fine grain steel for renewable energies

Steels play an important role in the energy transition. They are used wherever new structures and energy conversion machines are built. This becomes evident in the area of ​​wind energy. A tower in the water of the North Sea has to withstand wind and waves and low temperatures and has to carry the machine on its top without maintenance. The so-called foundations of the monopiles and jackets are the most well-known types of construction used to fasten the tower. At the wind conference mentioned above, experts from all over the world were represented to discuss potentials for improving the foundation structures; above all in terms of economy, sustainability and safety.

IWT-Solutions AG and its partners OWT (Leer), SSAB (Spain) and CBMM (Sao Paulo) presented new possibilities for the use of high-strength fine-grain steels (Fig. 1). In a pilot study, savings potentials of up to 30% were found for the use of S460ML. (Picture 2)