Patent ID: 8317479

Claim:
A wind turbine rotor blade, comprising: a structurally coherent blade portion, the blade portion comprising: a leading portion configured to receive fluid incident on the rotor blade; and a trailing portion located downstream of the leading portion and configured to smoothly convey fluid passing thereover from the leading portion, wherein a root region of the blade portion is configured to be connectable to a hub of a wind turbine and the blade portion is configured to smoothly transfer loads experienced thereby to the root region of the blade portion for transfer to the hub; and an extension portion appended to an outer surface of the trailing portion, the extension portion comprising a plurality of segments located adjacent one another in a span-wise sense, an interface between adjacent segments being configured to inhibit transmission of loads between the segments, wherein each segment comprises a first surface and a second surface, the first surface being spaced from the second surface at a proximal region of the extension portion and the first surface being connected to the second surface at a distal region of the extension portion.