A further look at carbon fiber production capacity

In the previous issue we covered the adoption of carbon fiber, superior to but more expensive than glass fiber, in China’s wind turbine manufacturing. This adoption has become practical because the large-tow carbon fiber price has almost halved from $180,000 per ton to $100,000 per ton. This is especially relevant to the offshore wind sector because its greater durability in the face of salt corrosion, and helps to explain China’s sudden adoption of 10 MW onshore and 20 MW+ offshore turbines without a spate of breakages. The carbon fiber cost decline, like so many others throughout China’s green energy equipment industries, originates in turn from production capacity expansions. We observed last week that China’s wind industry upped its carbon fiber…