LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - British group Ilika announced on Tuesday it had finalised a partnership with a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer that would see its Stereax solid-state battery powered devices used to monitor the condition of the turbines.
The deployment was part of a two-year, £1m collaborative development project between Ilika and Titan Wind Energy, with support from Chester University in the UK and the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu province, China, aided by £400,000 of funding from Innovate UK.

The primary objective of the project was to better develop an integrated smart sensor capable of performing autonomous structural condition monitoring powered by Ilika's Stereax battery, which would then be incorporated into the wind turbine's blades.

Ji Jun, president of Titan Wind, said, "We are very excited about the opportunity of using Ilika's Stereax solid-state battery technology in the globally significant market of wind turbine blade condition monitoring."

Speaking on the award, Graeme Purdy, Ilika's chief executive, said, "This partnership is expected to bring about a step change reduction in the operating costs of wind turbines, which is of paramount importance in sustaining the economic viability of wind energy. "

"In China, growth of industrial applications for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions such as this one is outstripping consumer IoT," he added.

As of 1000 GMT, shares had ticked up 14.29% to 24.00p.

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