The monitored and predicted growth of wind turbines in Europe indicates that the output from these sources has been increasing at approximately 30% per annum between years 1993-1999 and that the trend is set to continue between 2002-2010. This expansion could be supported by accessing the offshore market that is capable of generating large energy volumes at a reduced degree of societal impact through the use of larger turbines elsewhere. Additional output is achieved through the use of larger diameter wind turbines, as the amount of energy that a turbine can generate is given by the equation, rated power = 0.1215d^2.23. Blades in excess of 100m in length are being considered to service the required outputs. Blades this size must be manufactured in a cost effective manner using cheap, strong and lightweight materials Glass reinforced plastics (GRP) are used increasingly in place of metal, because they are lightweight and corrosion resistant. One major issue that has arisen through the desirable expansion in the use of this material is the lack of testing techniques suitable for the rapid and accurate inspection of large areas. The development of suitable non-destructive Testing (NDT) techniques is essential to allow European wind blade (WTB) manufactures to successfully employ the most desirable materials to achieve lightweight designs that can maximise the efficiency of the components and provide a competitive advantage over non-European competitors.

The consortium proposes to develop new and novel automated NDT techniques for the inspection of GRP components as used in the construction of WTBs. This pre-competitive project represents a step change to the current state of the art by advancing technology and improving the competitive advantage of European SMEs and LE. The systems will be applied using novel automated crawler system and will minimise the use of manual inspections that are unrepeatable and do not ensure complete area coverage. The techniques developed, including film-less digital radiography, will provide a full suite of inspection solutions for all types of WTBs currently in service as well as those predicted for the future. The inspection solutions will detect and size all of the defect types for each of the blades, given the restrictions of component access, location and environmental surroundings (particularly offshore). Similarly all of the maintenance and manufacturing sectors have been targeted. Hence, the "ReNEWiT" project is designed to deliver total solutions to the total inspection requirements of the total WTB industry.