Offshore Wind Renewable Energy
2007 Southeast Offshore Wind Conference Presentations for download - great introduction materials!
Offshore
wind energy is now recognized as an immense renewable energy resource.
Offshore wind farms are already operating in the UK, North Sea and Germany.
Most of the major wind turbine makers are building offshore models. The
best links and small pictures are in the
Peswiki Offshore Wind Directory. Here is a wonderful
Photo album with links to offshore projects. The Minerals Management
Service has a good page about
wave
energy basics and potential regulation. Vestas Wind has made several
excellent short documentaries about the
North Hoyle and Horns Reef offshore wind projects. Here is a good
YouTube video of a UK offshore wind project. The size of turbines is
increasing. Clipper Windpower is building the
Britannia
7.5 MW offshore wind turbine in the UK. The
Beatrice
demonstration project has 5 MW turbines in 150 feet depth. In the USA
the Cape Wind project is
the most advanced though not yet built. Here is an excellent
page of links
to offshore wind power. The
International Energy Agency
has a global wind development coordination process with much good information.
(Click
little picture for BIG picture of Danish offshore wind farm). Offshore
wind turbines are usually monopoles inserted into the seabed. They are big
enough to be easily seen and avoided by everything, including birds and whales.
They can be removed completely. The economics depend highly on scale -
bigger projects have more long-term value.
Here are good quick introductions to offshore wind:
-
"What is Offshore Wind?" web page.
-
National Offshore Wind Meeting 2002 and 2003 - a variety of presentations.
-
British Wind Energy Association has the best resources for operating projects in UK.
-
Bluewater Wind's "What is Offshore Wind" page
Floating wind turbines are the ultimate destination for this technology. Designs are already underway and experimentation will reveal which design is most effective. The Sway company of Norway has advanced this concept the furthest (below right) with a downwind-propeller turbine. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Dept. of Energy has an offshore wind research program (lower left) with publications explaining the technology and markets.
Offshore floating wind
turbines, with power output of 5 MW/km2 or more, will probably be
operating within 10 years. The question then is where is the resource?
The power must come to shore, or be used to generate hydrogen offshore using
electrolysis of seawater. Of course someone has already proposed a
business for that!
Hydrovolts had identified one the world's best possible sites for offshore fixed and floating wind turbines to generate thousands of megawatts, enough for much of the State of Washington. A preliminary permit application has been filed to develop the first phase site.
