The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation

Building on its 30-year history of collaboration with major wind turbine original equipment manufacturers and U.S. blade manufacturers, NREL leads the wind turbine technology area of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI).

Photo of a crowd of people milling about outside of a domed building.

IACMI began with a 5-year funding opportunity announcement through the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Decarbonization Offices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). NREL was on the winning team to lead IACMI's wind turbine technology area. In this role, NREL works to drive down the cost of energy for wind power and achieve DOE and IACMI goals by providing comprehensive expertise and technical capabilities. 

Goals

IACMI has three 5-year technical goals:

  1. 25% lower carbon fiber-reinforced polymer cost
  2. 50% reduction in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer embodied energy
  3. 80% composite recyclability into useful products.

Projects

IACMI projects are selected based on their likelihood to meet the IACMI goals. All IACMI projects must have a strong leadership and support from industry. IACMI projects focus on projects that intend to commercialize new technologies in support of the goals.

NREL currently focuses on a thermoplastic resin system project for wind turbine blades. Future projects for IACMI might include manufacturing innovations such as:

  • Pultruded spar caps
  • Manufacturing automation
  • Additive manufacturing of tooling and components
  • Segmented blade design and manufacturing
  • Wind turbine blade and component recycling
  • In-process nondestructive evaluation.

Partnerships

NREL collaborates with industry and university partners on IACMI projects. IACMI comprises 140 members, with 45% representing small-medium enterprises, 32% representing large industry, 12% from academia, and the remainder representing states, national laboratories, and associations. Current IACMI members include:

  • Colorado School of Mines
  • Colorado State University
  • GE Wind
  • Johns Manville
  • TPI Composites.

Technology Areas

IACMI has five technology areas with centers in five states:

  • Michigan: Vehicles
  • Colorado: Wind turbines
  • Ohio: Compressed gas storage
  • Indiana: Design, modeling, and simulation
  • Tennessee: Composites materials and process.

Learn more about working with NREL.

Learn about NREL’s other wind energy facilities.

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