Jul 2 2010
Generally, wind turbines are known to be one among the finest producers of renewable energy; however as the size of turbines get bigger they get noisier and also require more land area.
One possible solution is wind turbines that are based in the ocean. Although offshore turbines already exist, they have traditionally been built in shallow waters. Nevertheless, the speed of wind is at its greatest over deeper waters.
Dominique Roddier, a naval architect of Marine Innovation & Technology based in Berkeley, California, has suggested the idea of placing wind turbines on platforms that float. Dominique and his team have completed a feasibility study of a platform design called “WindFloat”, which has been published in the ‘Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy’ by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
The researchers have conducted tests on the floating platform that features three legs, based on present oil and gas platform designs. This floating platform is sufficiently stable to support a wind turbine with 5 MW capacity. These turbines stand 70 meters in height and have wide rotor size. It is estimated that one such system can produce sufficient energy to power a small town.
Presently, Dominique in partnership with Energias de Portugal, an electricity operator, is constructing a prototype of this project, which should hit the waters by the close of summer this year.
Source: http://www.marineitech.com/