Recent innovations in Wind Turbine Technology: Blade design

Abstract

As the global demand for renewable energy grows, engineers have focused more attention on improving blade technology on wind turbines. 

This is due to the fact that traditional blades have struggled with problems that include durability, efficiency, and environmental impact. 

This paper highlights advancements that have made blades stronger, more efficient, and safer for wildlife. 

One of those improvements the paper highlights is in blade materials, such as carbon-fiber composites and recyclable resins, which make the blades more durable, lighter, efficient and cost effective. 

The paper also covers aerodynamic design improvements such as flatback airfoils, bend-twisting coupling, and serrated trailing edges. 

In addition to all of this, modern sensor systems, digital twins, and active pitch control technologies allow the blades to adapt based on what the real time weather conditions are saying, allowing the turbine to operate with greater efficiency and stability. 

Finally, the paper examines all the wildlife friendly designs that have been made like the one black method, UV patterned tips which protect birds from colliding with the blades in the turbine. 

All these advancements to the turbine blades have made turbines more cost effective, environmentally friendly, and an efficient source of renewable energy. 

Introduction

As demand around the world increases for renewable energy, engineers have begun to pay more attention on wind turbines and improving their technology, specifically the design of turbine blades. 

Since 2021 there have been major advancements to blade technology, like advances in materials, aerodynamics, and sensor systems. 

These innovations allow the blades to capture more wind and reduce friction and minimize the harm it creates to wildlife. 

As a result of these advancements wind turbines today have become more efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly than ever before. 

This paper investigates the specific engineering improvements that allow modern wind turbines to produce a higher power output, last longer under worse conditions, create fewer environmental problems, and require less maintenance. 

These advancements to the blades have ultimately made modern turbines into systems that operate more efficiently, safely, and durably compared to their traditional designs.

Advances in Blade Materials

Over the past few years, the biggest advancement made to wind turbine blades is in the materials used. 

One of the changes to the materials is that modern blades are increasingly using carbon-fiber composites instead of the traditional fiber glass because the carbon-fiber composites have a much higher stiffness to weight ratio [1]. 

This allows the blade to be much longer, lighter and structurally stronger, while also reducing the bending, deformation, and mechanical stress on the entire turbine [1]. 

This means the turbine can produce more energy, have a longer lifetime, and operate more efficiently [1]. According to the US Department of Energy, carbon-fiber composites can reduce the blade weight by up to 25% [1]. 

This allows manufacturers to make the blade longer, while also making the blade easier to transport [1]. 

This shift to carbon-fiber composites has accelerated fast. A 2025 composites industry report said that carbon-fiber demand in wind turbines is one of the fastest growing markets as in 2020 the composites market was 
close to 9 billion dollars and as of 2025 it is all the way up to 15 billion dollars [2].

Figure 1: Prediction of the market size for Wind Turbine Composites [2]    .
        
Figure 1 shows how the carbon-fiber composites market is continuing to grow and become increasingly popular throughout the years, as it is increasing by close to 8.6% from year to year. 

The improvement in materials has directly translated into higher energy products. One example of this is Siemens Gamesa newest turbine, the SG-236 DD [3]. 

This turbine uses 115-meter blades that are built with advanced composites, so it ends up achieving a 236 meter-rotor [3]. This gives it a swept area of 43,500 m2 [3]. 
 

Figure 2: Comparing carbon-fiber vs fiberglass blades [3].

As shown in Figure 2, the turbine made with carbon-fiber composites have a significantly longer blade length, rotor diameter and swept area. 

These increases show how much of an improvement of carbon-fiber composites are compared to fiberglass. 

Besides the performance, the sustainability of the blades has improved with the introduction of thermoplastics resins like Arkema Elium. 

The Zebra Project showed that the first completely recyclable 62-meter thermoplastic works without reducing the efficiency or performance of wind turbines [4]. 

The benefit of using thermoplastic resins is that it makes the blade easier and cheaper to repair, and it allows the blades to be manufactured easier and made more consistent [4]. 

These advancements show that the new material science improvements have allowed the modern blade to create more energy while lasting longer.

Aerodynamic Design Improvements

Recent advances in aerodynamic designs of the blades have improved energy output and reduced drag losses. This is due to innovations like flatback airfoils, bend-twisting coupling and serrated trailing edges [5]. 

One aerodynamic improvement is designing thinner blades [5]. Having a thinner blade profile leads to less surface drag and allows the airflow to stay smoother along the blade [5]. 

By letting the airflow stay smoother along the blade it increases the overall efficiency and power production of the wind turbine [5]. 

Researchers have also shown that the newer wind turbine blades use flatback airfoils, as shown in Figure 3, which are airfoils with a trailing edge [6]. 

They use flatback airfoils because it strikes a better balance between aerodynamic lifts and structural demands [6]. For example, the airfoils give a higher maximum lift coefficient, and beneficial lift to drag ratios [6]. 

Computational studies show that flatback airfoils reduce the drag-coefficient by 34% while also improving the structural stiffness of the blade [6].

Figure 3: Example of a bend-twist-coupled blade with flatback airfoils to reduce wear and allow for longer blades without increasing weight or cost [5].

Another improvement to the designs has been with serrated trailing edges on the blades. 

The serrated trailing edge helps mitigate tip vortex formation, which is why there is a lot of induced drag and turbulent wake [7].  

A 2023 study by Khaoula Qaissi showed that trailing edge serrations help delay the flow separation and reduce drag [7]. 

The study also showed that turbines with serrated blades generate more torque and increased annual energy output in lower wind speed compared to the traditional smooth-edged blades [7].  

All these improvements in aerodynamics design of the blades have improved efficiency and reduced the drag of wind turbines.

Improvements in Smart Blade and Sensor Technology

Over the last few years one of the most important advancements has been in the improvement of smart blades that use sensors and digital tools to monitor wind turbines and the blades’ performance. 

Modern blades now include pressure sensors and vibration monitors that are placed on the turbine blades [8]. These sensors track how much of the blade is bending, how strong the wind forces are, and whether there are any unusual vibrations [8]. 

The information from the sensors is then sent to a digital twin, which is a computer that tracks all the data from the turbine [8]. 

A 2024 study by Tiantan Xu said that the digital twin systems allow the operators to predict the mechanical problems earlier, which ends up reducing unplanned down time and makes maintenance more efficient [8]. 

Smart technology also improves how well the turbines capture wind. For example, modern turbines are using active pitch control, which means that each blade can automatically adjust its angle of attack to capture the wind more efficiently based on the weather conditions [9]. 

The 2024 study led by Bairen An found that active pitch control can reduce fatigue by 15-20%, meaning that the turbine can operate safer and longer [9]. All of these improvements have led to wind turbines being more efficient in the amount of energy being produced and more cost-effective.

Wildlife Safety Improvements

Environmental engineers and researchers have been focusing on making wind turbine blades safer for wildlife, especially birds. 

This has led to several designs and strategies. One of the most effective strategies is the one black method. 

This method is when engineers paint one rotor blade black to interrupt the motion smear which makes the blades invisible to wildlife [10]. 

A field study at Smola Wind Farms in Norway reported that there was a 72% reduction in bird deaths that had painted blades compared to unpainted blades [10]. 

This shows that the black paint made the blades visible when they were spun fast. Another design that was made was to include UV patterned blade tips that most bird species can detect easily [11]. 

Wind farms are combining colored blade tips with AI detection systems that can slow down or stop the turbine when flocks of birds are flying nearby [11]. 

These innovations are making it a lot safer for wildlife when they are near wind turbines.   

Conclusion 

Overall, the advancements made to wind turbines in materials, sensor systems, aerodynamics, and wild-life friendly systems have made wind turbines more efficient, durable, cost effective and environmentally friendly than ever before. 

The stronger carbon-fiber composites and recyclable resins improved how durable the blades have become, the aerodynamics improvements and smart blade sensor technology improved how much more energy the blades can capture, and all the improvements to wildlife safety have made wind turbines less of a threat to birds. 

All of these innovations to the blades show how wind turbines have become one of the most popular sources of sustainable energy.

About The Authors

Dr. Raj Shah, is a Director at Koehler Instrument Company in New York, where he has worked for the last 25 plus years. He is an elected Fellow by his peers at ASTM, IChemE, ASTM,AOCS, CMI, STLE, AIC, NLGI, INSTMC, Institute of Physics, 

The Energy Institute and The Royal Society of Chemistry. An ASTM Eagle award recipient, Dr. Shah recently coedited the bestseller, “Fuels and Lubricants handbook”, details of which are available at ASTM’s Long-awaited Fuels and Lubricants Handbook https://bit.ly/3u2e6GY. 

He earned his doctorate in Chemical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and is a Fellow from The Chartered Management Institute, London. 

Dr. Shah is also a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council, a Chartered Petroleum Engineer with the Energy Institute and a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering council, UK. Dr. Shah was recently granted the honorific of “Eminent engineer” with Tau beta Pi, the largest engineering society in the USA. 

He is on the Advisory board of directors at Farmingdale university (Mechanical Technology), Auburn Univ (Tribology), SUNY, Farmingdale, (Engineering Management) and State university of NY, Stony Brook (Chemical engineering/ Material Science and engineering). 

An Adjunct Professor at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, in the Department of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Raj also has over 700 publications and has been active in the energy industry for over 3 decades.

Petrit Sheshori is an undergraduate student of engineering at Stony Brook University. He is also a member of a thriving petroleum research internship at Koehler Instrument Company where he regularly contributes to the petroleum and energy research industry.

Mathew Roshan is part of a thriving internship program at Kohler Instrument Company, pursuing a degree in Chemical and Molecular Engineering from Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York. 

He is also a researcher for the Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology (IGIT), where his work focuses on sustainable energy systems and gas innovation techniques. 

References

1.    “Innovative Carbon Fiber Materials Enable Longer Blades, Greater Energy Capture than Traditional Fiberglass.” US Department of Energy, 1 June 2020, www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/innovative-carbon-fiber-materials-enable-longer-blades-greater-energy-capture. 

2.    “Wind Turbine Composites Market Size | Industry Report, 2030.” Market Analysis Report, 28 May 2025, www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wind-turbine-composites-market-report. 

3.    Durakovic, Adnan. “Siemens Gamesa Installs First 115-Metre Blade on SG 14-236 DD Offshore Wind Turbine Prototype.” Offshore Wind, 16 Feb. 2023, www.offshorewind.biz/2023/02/16/siemens-gamesa-installs-first-115-metre-blade-on-sg-14-236-dd-offshore-wind-turbine-prototype/. 

4.    Press Release Breakthrough in Wind Turbine Blade Recycling:, 3 Oct. 2024, www.arkema.com/files/live/sites/shared_arkema/files/downloads/news-attachments/global/en/press-release/2024/20241003_Press%20release%20Arkema%20Zebra.pdf. 

5.    “Bends, Twists, and Flat Edges Change the Game for Wind Energy.” US Department of Energy, 23 Aug. 2023, www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/bends-twists-and-flat-edges-change-game-wind-energy. 

6.    Zhou, Kang-yuan, et al. “Research on Multi-Objective Aerodynamic/Structural Design Optimization Method for Large Thickness Flatback Airfoils.” Icas, 9 Sept. 2024, www.icas.org/icas_archive/icas2024/data/papers/icas2024_0690_paper.pdf. 

7.    Qaissi, Khaoula, et al. “Aerodynamic Optimization of Trailing-Edge-Serrations for a Wind Turbine Blade Using Taguchi Modified Additive Model.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 19 Jan. 2023, www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/3/1099. 

8.    Xu, Tiantian, et al. “Intelligent Operation and Maintenance of Wind Turbines Gearboxes via Digital Twin and Multi-Source Data Fusion.” Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 21 Mar. 2025, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11991151/. 

9.    An, Bairen, et al. “Research on Integrated Control Strategy for Wind Turbine Blade Life.” PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 3 Sept. 2024, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39275640/.

10.    May, Roel, et al. “Paint It Black: Efficacy of Increased Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Visibility to Reduce Avian Fatalities.” Original Research , 15 June 2020, tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/May_EcolEvol_2020.pdf.

11.    Waltz, Emily. “A Simple Solution to Wind Turbine Bird Deaths?” IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2025, spectrum.ieee.org/bird-deaths-from-wind-turbines.