CWTC Business Plan

This report presents the Business Plan for the establishment of the Wind Turbine Component Centre (CWTC) to meet the objectives of performing theoretical research and experimental testing. The core idea of a CWTC is to support the Danish wind energy industry and research activities at the component level improving the competitive advantage of that industry.

The CWTC will in itself operate its activities, including access to test and experimental facilities, on a semi commercial basis. The business model for the CWTC presented is based on revenues coming from component manufacturers as well as research grants, and will include membership fees as well as hourly payment and larger projects where payment is a limited project sum.

The presented roadmap model clarifies the development path towards a fully developed CWTC, which will cover test of all important components along the drive-train as well as offering a comprehensive systematic understanding of the entire drive-train. The CWTC will over time market and sell its products and services on a global scale, but first and foremost the CWTC is established to support and strengthen the Danish wind energy industry and specifically the Danish sub suppliers to the Danish wind turbine industry and also the Danish research establishments.

The presented organizational structure reflects that there are certain functions that are separated from the operations and it also reflects that scientific staffing are hired in on a project basis. Machine operators will be hired in on a permanent basis. The breakdown of the cost for running the rig, both for R&D and commercial projects is presented.

The income from the other activities is calculated based on the cost for the research staff, both for R&D activities and commercial. In the first year the income will be 100% from R&D activities, which is the cost for the staff to set-up the test-rig, the guidelines and test procedures, and partly for running the rig.

Within 3 years of operation the CWTC is expected to provide the full list of products and services, as described in the road-map, with around half of the activities being research based and the other half commercial. The first year of operation is expected to be pure research based, with the development of test cases, guidelines for testing, initial set-up and calibration of the test rig etc.