A Colorado-based startup wants to build the world’s largest cargo plane, as long as a football field.
Its only objective: to deliver giant wind turbine blades.
Radia – founded in 2016 by MIT-trained rocket scientist Mark Lundstrom – says it wants to usher in the next phase of wind energy by solving a logistical problem associated with installing larger wind turbines.
Tall wind turbine towers with larger blades can harness more energy because they can better take advantage of the faster wind speeds available at high altitudes. But the larger the blades, the more difficult they are to transport.
Obstacles such as overpasses, power lines, bridges and tunnels create a logistical nightmare for delivering each blade. Radia says today’s roads can “barely support” the blades that span 230 feet.
A rendering visualizes one of the obstacles associated with transporting a large wind turbine blade by land. Removed
Radia said it won’t get easier over time because future blades are expected to span more than 330 feet and “cannot be moved on current infrastructure.”
“Once fully constructed, a blade cannot be bent or bent, limiting both the route a truck can take and the turning radius it can make, often making elongated routes necessary to avoid urban roadblocks,” according to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency. and renewable energies.
Radia’s giant cargo plane, called WindRunner, hopes to fly over these barriers. The company says in a press release that it plans to build an aircraft 356 feet long, with a wingspan of 261 feet and a height of 79 feet.
For comparison, before being destroyed by Russia in 2022, the giant Antonov An-225 – a Soviet-era cargo plane also used to transport oversized loads such as wind turbine blades – measured about 276 feet long and had a wingspan of 290 feet and stood about 60 feet high.
GLEB GARANICH/Reuters
The An-225’s cargo volume was 46,000 cubic feet, and it could carry approximately 550,000 pounds of cargo.
Radia’s plane has a hold volume of 272,000 cubic feet – 12 times that of a Boeing 747-400F – and a maximum payload capacity of 160,000 pounds, according to the company.
This size advantage will make it possible to transport blades more than 300 feet long – which are loaded through a front door – and build more cost-effective land-based turbines, Radia said in a press release.
Regarding accessibility, Radia said the WindRunner would operate from regional centers where bladed wind turbines are imported or produced, and deliver them directly to wind farms by landing on “a semi-dirt or gravel landing strip.” prepared from 6,000 feet” on the sites.
This would allow the WindRunner to land at “almost every commercial airport in the world,” Radia said, noting that the plane is designed with a range of 1,200 miles at its maximum payload and a cruising altitude of 41,000 feet . It can cruise at Mach 0.6, or about 460 mph.
Conceptual drawing of the WindRunner ride. Removed
“The result will be highly efficient wind power at scale,” Radia CEO Mark Lundstrom said in a press release. “From a business perspective, this means the onshore wind industry’s internal rate of return will double, thereby attracting significantly more capital to renewable energy.”
According to Radia, it is more than halfway through its estimated eight-year process to design, build and certify the mammoth WindRunner.
A spokesperson for Radia did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
WindRunner joins the lucrative oversized freighter market
Radia joins the niche network of aerospace companies making giant planes to transport oversized cargo, such as heavy machinery, military tanks, helicopters and satellites. Goods like these cannot be easily broken down into smaller pieces for transport on traditional wide-body cargo ships that have side doors, for example, rather than front or rear doors.
As demand for scheduled air cargo has cooled since the pandemic-driven boom, the lucrative market for oversized planes is expected to grow from a value of about $14 billion in 2022 to $33 billion by 2030 , according to research and consulting firm 360iResearch.
These oversized missions typically require a special aircraft design large and flexible enough to accommodate the bulky cargo, with the nose-loading door of Radia’s WindRunner being common on competing freighters.
The An-124 Ruslan jumbo jet, the twin of the An-225 which is primarily operated by Russian and Ukrainian air carriers, has transported several uniquely shaped objects over the years, such as trains and generators. Its payload volume is 41,000 cubic feet.
The An-124 being loaded. Jens Schlüter/Getty Images
Aircraft manufacturing giants Airbus and Boeing both have their respective oversized cargo ships to transport massive objects.
Airbus’ Beluga aircraft, including the original BelugaST “Super Transporter” and larger BelugaXL variants, play a variety of roles within the European aircraft manufacturer.
Based on the Airbus A300-600 twin-engine airliner, the BelugaST is primarily used to ship oversized cargo around the world on behalf of Airbus’ independent cargo airline, Airbus Beluga Transport.
Airbus BelugaST. Airbus
Meanwhile, the A330-200F-based workhorse BelugaXL mainly transports aircraft parts between the manufacturer’s global assembly lines, such as the wings of its Airbus A350 jetliner.
Boeing’s Dreamlifter fleet is made up of modified 747-400 freighters. These provide a heavy cargo hold manufactured for the purpose of carrying the wings and other parts of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft to reduce production time.
Like the Beluga, the Dreamlifter has had other duties, such as transporting supplies during the pandemic.
The Boeing Dreamlifter used a swing mechanism for its tail loading. REUTERS/Robert Sorbo
To accommodate the giant cargo, the Dreamlifter uses a unique pivoting mechanism on its tail to load, while the Beluga features a nose-loading door similar to those on Radia’s WindRunner concept and the An-124 Ruslan.
The Airbus BelugaXL and Boeing Dreamlifter have payload volumes of 78,000 and 65,000 cubic feet, respectively.
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