Norway's Hydro Develops Floating Wind Turbines
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 11. 6.05
Hydro is a Norwegian energy and aluminum company. They are developing floating wind turbines that could be used in deep-water wind farms (depths between 200 and 700 meters (656 and 2,297 feet)). "The company envisions future wind turbines with a power capacity of 5 MW and a rotor diameter of approximately 120 meters. [...] Hydro has measured wind speeds in the North Sea for more than 30 years. Based on data determining that average wind speeds at sea are higher than on land, Hywind will be exceptionally energy efficient." Bech Gjørv, Hydro’s director of new energy forms, emphasizes that the new windmill will be a supplement, not a substitute to land-based wind parks. "Hywind is very well-suited for energy poor areas where there is little accessible land, but good offshore wind conditions, for example in the US, Japan and in the vicinity of offshore installations," she says.
The future goal is to have large-scale offshore wind parks with up to 200 turbines capable of producing up to 4 terawatt hours (TWh) per year and delivering renewable electricity to both offshore and onshore activities. This goal is far in the future, but if we’re to succeed in 10-15 years, we have to start the work today. —Alexandra Bech Gjørv, Hydro’s director of new energy forms
A demonstration project is currently being planned based on wind turbines with a power generation capacity of 3 megawatt (MW). The windmills will reach 80 meters above the sea’s surface and will have a rotor diameter of about 90 meters.
Hydro has already invested approximately $3 million in the conceptual phase of the project, and it is expected that further research and the demonstration project will require about $23 million more.
::Hydro: Floating windmills, ::PDF Brochure, via ::Hydro Develops Floating Windmills for Deeper-Water Wind Farms
I posted on this on my blog on friday. It seems that the US DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab has conducted feasability studies of this concept as well and a similar idea has been proposed by Thomas Lee of Stanbury Resources, Inc.
Wired has an article anpit Vertical Wind Turbines:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69492,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_10
which, should it be real, removes all remaining excuses against wind power.
Putting wind turbines up off the coast of Massachusetts is turning into a nightmarish saga of delay and acrimony, turning neighbor against neighbor. "Not in MY backyard (front ocean)!" seems to be the battle cry.
Like Don Quixote, they have something against things turning in the wind (or, in this case, on the water).
So I wonder, sam, how this moveable turbine would change the battle lines in Mass. Would the turbines move all the way to New Jersey or something?
Since these are deep sea turbines, they probably could just be put further out at sea where they can't be seen from the coast.
Anon,
I was just mentioning that there is indevelopment vertical windmills which remove pretty much all of any semi-rational complaints. Those worried about birds can now have no complaint, noise is mostly nullified, and the towers themseleves can be smaller. Appearances suitable for NIMBYs can never be reconciled.
Interesting... I wonder if these could be designed to submerse during high-wind conditions like hurricanes.
So - it took years of measurements and research to determine: that average wind speeds at sea are higher than on land.
Either they're reporting to troglodites, or I should withdraw my investment immediately.
Simon: I hope that was sarcasm. Of course there are many other reasons that measurements are taken over the years. For instance, once a genius has determined that, in general, windspeed is greater at sea than land (which of course, isn't always true), someone has to determine where the best locations are, and how much the extra speed is worth. i.e., can it justify the added expense of the R&D required to design, manufacture, implement and maintain off-shore deep-water wind turbines. There's so much to know that I'd be surprised if they even have two-thirds of the data they would like to have by now. Safety for those working off-shore must be a paramount concern too.
Just because some reporter decided to sum it up in a base manner doesn't mean that's the end of the story.
And it isn't the journalist's fault either, reall. They have to keep environmental reporting base, in order for it to make sense for much of the audience out there. How they go about doing it is something that can really only be subjectively judged - until of course you have ample data points collected to draw a conclusion :) And it may take years.
Wind as energy is sand in people's eyes. You need a reliable energy source and that's not wind. Sadly. Let them tell us the whole story about energy and not treating us like little children.
Sometimes I think about how different the world would be today if the early wind mills would have been improved, and if industry and municipalities would have embraced wind power a couple hundred years ago. Even if the total of wind installations had increased at a few percentage points a year, or even a few percentage points each decade, things would be so different today. Also, I would like to see news of wind turbines used for directly powering devices. Pumps or whatever. How about a huge turbine running a refrigeration unit? Without first generating electricity and them powering a motor. Wind power is too viable to be shunned by the ignorant.