in surplus to date. The Year
3 Oregon Annual Report is
available on the Oregon tab of
www.PaintCare.org.
In 2009, Oregon became the first state
in the nation to enact a law requiring paint
manufacturers to safely manage leftover
latex and oil-based paint from consumer
and contractor painting jobs. This historic
product stewardship legislation responds
to the issue of managing leftover paint -
the largest component of local household
hazardous waste collection programs.
ACA created the incorporated PaintCare
program on behalf of architectural paint
BASF Coatings Protect New Wind Turbine in Hamburg
Since mid-August, Hamburg’s port has hosted a new inland wind
turbine whose rotor blades are nearly 60 meters long. BASF’s
RELEST coatings make a crucial contribution to the longevity
of the turbine. They ensure high surface quality and protect the
glass-fiber reinforced plastic rotor blades from enormous stresses brought about by weathering, erosion and UV radiation, for
example. The turbine manufactured by Nordex has a 141-meter
high tower. The tower’s height, which is extraordinary for Hamburg, makes it especially productive.
The N117/2400 turbine provides a container terminal at the
port with up to 8. 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
This is equivalent to the annual energy needs of nearly 2,000
four-person households in Germany. The rule of thumb is, the
higher the wind turbine’s tower, the greater the yield, which increases by 0.7 to 1 percent per meter of height. This means that
the wind turbine’s height, which is above Hamburgś average,
will pay off in terms of both economic and ecological efficiency.
Rotor blades have to withstand extreme stresses
“In order for wind energy to pay off, it must be guaranteed that
the turbines’ production will be efficient but also that it will have
a service life of at least 20 years,” said Wolfgang Kranig, head of
Postcoatings at BASF. “For this reason, our paints are designed
both to provide efficient coating and to fully protect the rotor
blade surface from the enormous environmental stresses.” At
speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour at the blade tips, rain,
snow and hail attack the surfaces, which can lead to erosion. In
order for the rotor blades to be as aerodynamic as possible, the
surface finish must also be smooth and flawless.
Using robots to speed up coating
Prior to assembly in Hamburg, the turbine’s rotor blades were
coated in Rostock. In a highly automated process, Nordex ap-plies BASF gelcoat and topcoat to the surfaces. The gelcoat
performs the function of a safety coat to make the finish resistant to impacts. The topcoat provides surface qualities such
as smooth flow and mat appearance. This prevents problems
such as airplane pilots being blinded by the reflecting sunlight.
The paintline in Rostock is set up to handle a rotor blade length
of 60 meters. Two application robots apply the coating simultaneously. “Using robots makes application 50 percent faster
than application by conventional methods. The process has a
number of advantages. The uniform layer thickness allows us to
use materials economically, which makes it easy on the environment,” explained Felix Losada, press spokesperson at Nordex.
“The applicability and properties of BASF’s coatings complement our technology very well. Pooling our competence allows
us to achieve first-class surface performance that is reproducible
and consistent.”
Partnership for sustainable energy recovery worldwide
The partnership between Nordex and BASF was established in
June 2008. Nordex has installed multi-megawatt turbines using BASF’s RELEST Wind industrial coatings product group at
many wind parks throughout Germany, for example in the states
of Hesse, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein. The two companies
have also teamed up for wind-turbine construction internationally, in countries such as Sweden, South Africa and Turkey. One
of the largest joint projects is the wind park installed in the U.S.
in 2012 that comprises 34 turbines. The next project to be un-dertaken by Nordex and BASF is a new medium-wind system.
The installation at the Hamburg port starts between late 2013
and early 2014.
