Wind sparring: This power platform designed by Norway’s StatoilHydro uses a spar buoy, a common technology in its offshore oil and gas operations, to place a conventional wind turbine in waters up to 700 meters deep--multiplying the sites available for offshore wind parks. The company expects to be operating a full-scale device off Norway’s North Sea coast by next fall.
StatoilHydro
A floating wind turbine is planned for 10 kilometers off Norway.
The notion of floating wind turbines far offshore may have come a nautical mile closer to reality late last month, with the announcement of a collaboration between Norwegian oil and gas producer StatoilHydro and Germany's Siemens, a major wind-turbine producer. The new partners plan to install what could be the world's first commercial-scale wind turbine located offshore in deep water. StatoilHydro has allocated 400 million NOK ($78 million) to floating a Siemens turbine in more than 200 meters of water--10 times the depth that conventional offshore wind-turbine foundations can handle--atop a conventional oil and gas platform.
By fall of 2009, the project aims to operate a 2.3-megawatt wind turbine in North Sea about 10 kilometers offshore from Karmøy on Norway's southwestern tip. That power output is small compared with the 1,054 megawatts of offshore wind installed in European waters by the end of last year. However, proving deep offshore wind will ensure future growth by expanding the range of wind power, according to Anne Strømmen Lycke, StatoilHydro's vice president for wind power, who says that there are a declining number of sites available onshore and in shallow waters. "Either it's full already, or there's resistance or complicated terrain," says Lycke. "And there are regions without a shallow shelf--California, Japan, Norway--where shallow wind is not possible."
At least two other firms are also developing floating wind turbines. Both--Blue H of the Netherlands, and Norway's Sway (itself one-quarter owned by StatoilHydro)--are designing lighter wind turbines to slim down the heft and price tag of the platform required to support them. But Paul Sclavounos, a mechanical engineer at MIT whose lab is designing offshore platforms for wind turbines, has criticized that innovation as misguided at this stage in the technology development, given the complexity and cost of certifying a novel turbine design. In contrast, the project planned by StatoilHydro and Siemens involves mature technologies being implemented by industrial giants.
Indeed, StatoilHydro's plan relies on a combination of well-tested components. A 165-meter-tall spar buoy closely modeled after oil and gas production platforms used in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere supports a standard, mass-produced Siemens 2.3-megawatt turbine. Lycke calls the turbine "very robust and very well tested." That will simplify optimization of the floating-turbine concept, she says, "because we know that we're only testing one thing: whether the turbine behaves as predicted in the water."
The prediction from wave pool testing of a scale model is that the turbine should handle life on the waves just fine, thanks to three anchor chains holding the platform stable and the relatively steady winds that prevail far from shore. "Onshore wind turbines are exposed to quite a bit of turbulence and gusts, and that is not the case at sea," says Lycke.
StatoilHydro plans to lower the price of the floating turbine by running it for two years and gathering the data needed to estimate the smallest anchor and buoy required to support a wind turbine. Some additional cost will be defrayed by more consistent winds that keep the turbines spinning more often and thus boosting the megawatt hours of electricity generated by each turbine.
Lycke says that deepwater wind power will be very pricey early on--closer to today's solar power prices--and thus will need government incentives to take off. But she believes that the economics could eventually rival those of conventional wind power. "If we didn't think so," says Lycke, "there would be no point in doing it."
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I have read in one of the relevant articles that the USA is planning to put up a turbine at ..."The site off Cape Cod where Blue H intends to install a test platform next summer for its first U.S. wind farm will be 23 miles off the coast".
I wonder who governs the rights to install wind farms offshore on international waters? Is the ocean free for anyone?
Re: Who owns the "deep waters"
Yes, most of the oceans are free for everyone. This is why commercial fishing fleets decimated most of the fish populations across the globe. It's a classic case of the tragedy of the commons...Nobody is in charge, and everyone plays according to their short term, selfish interests.
>>> not a good idea to have cheaper energy >>>
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the price of the wind and solar energy comes ENTIRELY from the costs of the infrastructures shared on their operative life, then, if the sea implanted wind turbines will cost (e.g.) 50% more than a land wind turbine, also the end-user costs will grow 50% or more (since the sea turbines' maintenance will be not as easy as on land)
the sea turbines are the right choice ONLY if you don't want to devastate your lands (but you devastate your sea...) or if you have not enough space on lands for all your energy needs (like in Holland)
however (both) sea and land wind turbines are NOT the right choice if you want MORE and CHEAPER wind energy, since that can be reached ONLY with the (future) high altitude high speed wind stream turbines or (NOW!) with MY "Wind Energy Skyscrapers Power Plants":
http://www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/028energy.html
that, since, the 200-300 m.-up winds are faster and more constant than on land (or sea) surface
PS - maybe... MIT could fund my research to study and develop this idea... :)
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Wind power at sea - how is the power transferred?
One of the issues I don't see being discussed concerns the transfer of power over long distances in a seawater environment. Usually power companies transmit AC at thousands of volts in order to overcome line losses due to the impedance of the wire. How are the waterborne turbines transferring power to the mainland? At such high voltages the pumping losses on dry land still approach 50% according to my engineering colleagues when the dialectric surrounding the cable is air. The situation would probably be even worse in a marine environment (think miles of rubberized cable and the probability of saltwater intrusion). I'd appreciate an article on this if anyone at the MIT Review is listening...
Re: Wind power at sea - how is the power transferred?
Couldn't find hard numbers but here is some info on under sea power cabling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_power_cable
Re: Wind power at sea - how is the power transferred?
One option may be t convert the electrcity directy into hydrogen and oxegen gases and pipe the "fuel" towards an onshore conversion facility like a power plant that consumes the gases at the closest source. Polyethelene or Stainless steep pipes can steer the gases for the most part towards the shoreline, and then closer to shore be converted to rubber coated or maintained as Polyethelene pipes to carry the gases to the final point of consumption.
Polyethelene makes the most sense to me becuase it's easy to manage, lightweight and impervious to salt water. Achoring these to the floor woul dbe easy too I suspect.
M. O'Grady
Re: Wind power at sea - how is the power transferred?
The total losses in hydrogen energy transportation are simply unacceptable. Worse, even the theoretical efficiency isn't good enough for commercial applications.
Transporting power via undersea cables is a well known science with large industrial experience.
Sorry, but you're presenting a solution that doesn't work for a problem that's already been solved.
Re: Wind power at sea - how is the power transferred?
The transmission problem dominated my mind as soon as I saw the title, yet it is not addressed.
Probably not an original thought, but it seems plausible to integrate wind/wave/solar into a single structure. Killing three birds with one stone so to speak. Not to mention some migratory birds...
Three cheers to the folks running this experiment! I discussed this idea several years ago with a bunch of folks at a renewable energy mixer and same type of response; VCs, folks from Pacific Gas and Electric, etc. saying "it'll never work, electricity and water don't mix, it can't be done, whose jurisdiction, we're all gonna die" etc. Come on folks! People have worked out undersea transmission cables decades ago; they're all over the Mediterranean and English Channel. Most importantly, the power is there and abundant. If these folks can work out technology and processes to do this cheaply it will be a great part of the energy mix!
My issue wasn't that it wouldn't work, only a question of overall efficiency. Obviously the best alternative would be cables made of superconductors but we're not there yet. I'd like to know something about the electrical circuit itself. The resistance of the cable must be a factor, and the only way to pump electricity a huge distance is to up the voltage into the kilovolt range, which is risky. Obviously they found a way to do it and I'd appreciate a report on HOW it's done since this is a premier technology magazine.
Guest (mpss1987)
Wind, wave, current floating platform
During the MPSS program in 1987 with Glasgow University and WS Atkins, Consultants,,(to develop a shipyard friendly semi-sub; a complete success and now becoming the industry standard) we considered a concept called, "The Green Bean"with windmills on deck, wave generators in columns and turbines in pontoons. This is technically and economically viable using the cheap platforms of MPSS design that can be built in yards using mass production techniques of World War 2 applied by Kaiser to assemble a Victory ship in four and a half days. Spars tend to be payload limited and space limited, see Gulf of Mexico experience. Call me if you need to discuss the info at www.youtube.com/mpss1987. 001 760 721 7035
Instead of 150 meter units deployed in the ocean, what's preventing the manufacturer from making smaller - say 50 to 75 meter units, and setting them up in the great lakes? The Rust-Belt area has been hard hit and may have huge production line capacities sitting idle that can make these things pretty easily and set them up locally. If my thinking is correct - the UAW guys used to make generators for automobiles. I suspect they could wind coils and make generators for windmills too. Low tech for sure, but it adds to the tax base and you have less distance to push the energy where it's needed - like Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconcin, and Minneapolis. I suspect Toronto and Windsor might like a little juice as well.
Hey you Govenors! Are you listening?
The added irony would be that UAW would be building the things that are powering up the things they used to build....
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139 Comments
165M tall; what diameter?; what tonnage?
165M tall?
What diameter? 2M? 10M?
What tonnage? How much steel?
And resist the thrust of the wind, applied at the top tip of the spar.
Sounds like quite a challenge.
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