Summary
The recent announcement (Sept. 9, 2009; of an alliance between Zoltek and GBT (Netherlands) appears at first glance to be a step down the value chain. In fact it offers little. All the major wind power generator companies design their own blades and regard it as a core technology. LM Glasfiber ($1.3B) already designs and makes blades for the many wind power companies. So who will buy the designs or blades from GBT? How much impact will this alliance have on Zoltek sales? Answer, not much.
Analysis
The major wind turbine producers (Vestas, Gamesa, GE Wind, Suzlon, Siemens) all develop their own wind blade design and specify the materials used in their construction. The performance efficiency of the blades is a core differentiator between competitors. Each manufacturer puts a significant effort into developing the shape of the blade/airfoil. Some of these industry leaders will contract out the blade fabrication but retain ownership of the molds used in the production process. That is how important the design and fabrication technology is to them.
Other wind turbine producers buy blades from LM Glasfiber. This large company (2008 sales of US$1.3B) has been a supplier to the wind industry for many years.
The GBT site claims to be headed toward producing blades in 2010. They list five employees; most ex-Suzlon. It seems to this analyst that the impact on carbon fiber from Zoltek will be pretty small.
GBT faces LM Glasfiber as major competition. It also places Zoltek as allied with a competitor to some of the same wind turbine companies to whom they want to sell carbon fiber; thus opening a door to SGL Carbon and AKSA .
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
