Three leading aerospace companies – Aernnova, Leonardo and AFuzion – will work with Radia on WindRunner™, the world’s largest aircraft. Radia is developing WindRunner to deliver the largest, most efficient wind turbine blades, extending the reach of wind energy and transforming its economics to help the world meet its climate goals.
The companies will join Radia’s innovation ecosystem and will be available to discuss the partnerships at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024.
Aernnova will collaborate with Radia to develop the aircraft’s wings and engine pylons. Leonardo will develop the fuselage. AFuzion will provide safety and certification consulting.
The partnership agreements are the latest step forward for the WindRunner, an aircraft designed for its primary mission: flying large turbine blades – up to 105m long, longer than a football field – directly to wind farms, landing on semi-prepared, unpaved runways up to 1,800m long. This overcomes logistical obstacles that today prevent the development of onshore wind energy. The larger wind turbines are, the more effective and efficient they are. However, long turbine blades are extremely difficult and expensive to transport by land, hampered by bridges, tunnels and road curves.
WindRunner flies over these obstacles, enabling the deployment of today’s largest, most efficient onshore wind turbines and the even larger ones of tomorrow – what Radia calls GigaWind™.
The result will be widespread availability of consistent, low-cost clean energy in more locations and at industrial scale for the power grid, production of clean fuels including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and commercial power users such as data centers and hyperscalers. The onshore wind energy market is estimated to be worth up to $10 trillion by 2050 – the equivalent of 1 million wind turbines.
Partners will help Radia achieve its mission and seize a new opportunity for aerospace
” WindRunner is an opportunity for the aerospace industry to make a decisive impact on climate change, diversify into the energy industry and seize a tremendous market opportunity,” said Mark Lundstrom, CEO of Radia. ” We are very pleased and excited that Aernnova, Leonardo and AFuzion – three companies that are leaders in aerospace technology – have chosen to partner with us on this extremely important project.”
The leaders of Aernnova, Leonardo and AFuzion say the partners were attracted by the scale and ambition of the project and the importance of its objectives
” We are excited and proud to be involved in the world’s largest aircraft, especially given its mission,” said Ricardo Chocarro, CEO of Aernnova. ” Based on my previous experience in this sector of the wind turbine industry, I can confirm the importance of the solution that WindRunner offers. The agreement with Radia for the development of the WindRunner project positions us in the field of wing and engine pylon design and manufacturing support, recognizing our expertise for the design and development of this ambitious project.”
Stefano Bortoli, Managing Director of Leonardo Aerostructures Division, said: “ The WindRunner initiative is an interesting example of how the aerospace industry can continue to make an important contribution to sustainability with a range of diversified solutions to benefit different sectors. In addition, Leonardo has extensive experience in the energy sector with its technologies in aeronautics, including wind farms, so we are very pleased to support this initiative with our proven know-how and capabilities in the field of aerospace.”
” WindRunner must operate safely in a wide range of operating environments,” said AFuzion CEO Vance Hilderman. ” And the urgency of the climate crisis requires that it systematically go through the certification process so that it can be put into operation. AFuzion looks forward to contributing its capabilities to support WindRunner’s progress from development to commissioning.”
SOURCE: Businesswire