Material adoption practices of wind industry and its effect on product scaling trends

Geometric scaling of products has been shown to have increasing returns. Historical trend of products such as wind turbine shows the cost-benefit increases with scaling. However in the recent decade the maximum size of turbines is experiencing a stalled growth beyond 130 meter diameter. This when left unnoticed will limit further scaling in commercial turbines and will result in reduced wind energy diffusion and cost of energy. Results from this study shows technology adoption and adaption has been a key step in achieving scaling and in the recent trend the delayed technology inception and adoption can be seen as a vital cause for the slow scaling trend. Literature review shows new materials are a positive source of support towards scaling; however their diffusion depends on the firm size and involves risk due to technical uncertainty. To overcome these limits to scaling, a structured technology search using a open-innovation based exploration-exploitation amenable modified stage-gate based approach is recommended at firm level along with appropriate supply-adoption-demand integrated policies at country level such that it promotes prior enabling technology creation and adoption to cater to product scaling needs.