Main Content
Highlights
Getting into deep water to save money
IF predictions prove correct then by 2030, floating wind turbines could be shouldering 40% of the world’s generating capacity for renewable energy. The prototype rig pictured above is one of a new breed of wind turbines designed for operation in deep waters far off the coast.
Unlike coastal wind farms where wind turbines rest on seabed foundations, the new turbines are being mounted on so-called submerged deepwater platforms (SDPs) - a technology borrowed from the offshore oil industry.
Proponents in both Europe and North America believe such rigs will allow future wind farms to be built far off the coast and well out of view, to areas where the wind blows stronger and more reliably.
The prototype pictured is two-thirds the size of what an operational rig is expected to look like. This one is currently being tested at anchor in 108 metres of water about 20 km off Puglia in southern Italy.
Its owners, Blue H Technologies BV of Denmark recently won approval from Italian authorities to build a “wind energy park” in the same offshore zone to generate 90 MW for the picturesque city.
In Britain, the company’s UK affiliate is one of four that have just won shares in a multi-million dollar British Government fund to test and research offshore facilities.
Interestingly, another of the chosen four is NOVA (Novel Offshore Vertical Axis). This is the consortium that has taken over development of the futuristic 144-metre high Aerogenerator reported by TransScan last April.
The government is to fund NOVA to find out if its giant V-shaped turbine will really work and if it will have any advantages over the more conventional offshore concepts.
In the US, the Blue H American affiliate is currently seeking federal approval to conduct development tests off the Massachusetts coast as part of a proposal to install some 120 turbines on deep-water rigs across more than 100 sq km of sea. Under the proposal the turbine rigs would be anchored in 51 metres of water and together generate some 420 MW of power.
According to Blue H USA, there is a real economic advantage of putting wind farms over the horizon and into areas of deep sea.
It says by comparison, pile installations in waters of more than 50 metres deep become prohibitively expensive to build - even though the stronger more consistent winds are found further out to sea.
