{"id":17575,"date":"2021-05-22T18:59:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T15:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/?p=17575"},"modified":"2021-05-22T19:10:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T16:10:13","slug":"are-vertical-turbines-the-future-of-offshore-wind-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/%ce%b5%ce%b9%ce%b4%ce%ae%cf%83%ce%b5%ce%b9%cf%82\/are-vertical-turbines-the-future-of-offshore-wind-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Vertical Turbines The Future Of Offshore Wind Power?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ariel Cohen <\/strong><\/p>\n

What makes renewable energy so exciting is the immense economic potential of groundbreaking technology advancements.<\/p>\n

A recent discovery by engineers of Oxford Brookes University\u2019s School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics could change the design of offshore wind farms forever. The study, led by Professor Iakovos Tzanakis, demonstrates that deep sea and coastal wind turbines could achieve a\u00a015% increase<\/a>\u00a0in power output if traditional horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) are replaced by a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) design. While classic HAWT windmills produce energy with a standard three-blade \u201cpinwheel\u201d design, VAWT utilizes a more cylindrical shape with blades rotating around a central shaft.<\/p>\n

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Animated comparison of HAWT vs. leading VAWT[+]WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The main issue with conventional HAWT windfarms \u2013 which can number 60 to 70 turbines over 1500 acres \u2013 is that efficiency degrades rapidly in the back rows due to turbulence from the first rows of the formation. Vertical axis turbines solve this issue by generating less turbulence, and in some cases even improving the efficiency of nearby turbines.The basis of their research is in computational flow analysis using 11,500 hours of computer simulations to optimize placement. They also analyzed the effects of downstream generated turbulence which reduces the back-row efficiency of traditional HAWTs to 25-30%.<\/p>\n

This finding demands further study of condensed wind farms since the current turbine designs are\u00a0meant to be used in a singular application<\/a>. When installed in close proximity to one another, the performance characteristics change, reducing the efficiency of surrounding turbines due to turbulence created down wind. The typical offshore turbine\u00a0from GE<\/a>\u00a0is massive, measuring 220 m across and 248 m high, and producing 12-14 MW of power on average \u2013 or enough to power up to 12,600 homes.<\/p>\n

Current U.S. turbine capacity for wind totals at\u00a0118 GW or 8.4% of utility scale energy<\/a>\u00a0production. The offshore wind capacity is a measly 42 MW led by the first off shore wind farm at Block Island, RI, which accounts for 30 MW \u2013 1 GW is 1,000 MW. In addition to the recently announced\u00a0Vineyard Wind Project<\/a>\u00a0providing 800 MW, Danish\u00a0company Orsted<\/a>\u00a0has been developing two Ocean Wind projects to provide a total of 2.3 GW to the state of New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Initial applications of wind turbine technology began in the 1970s with a focus on remote small-scale applications, such as research stations that are disconnected from the power grid. The largest hurdle in the progression of VAWT designs is the lack of a proper airfoil shape and troubles with the braking systems, which drive unit costs up. Traditional aerospace applications have provided years of research and technical basis for the creation of the commonly seen \u201cpinwheel\u201d design. The onshore wind turbine market is dominated by an industry standard three-rotor HAWT design, but there is\u00a0no standard design<\/a>\u00a0for VAWTs. Recent investments in offshore wind farms, like the\u00a0Vineyard Wind Project<\/a>, use a typical three-rotor HAWT design offered by market leader\u00a0GE<\/a>\u00a0in a bedrock-based application not suited for deep water.<\/p>\n

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Block Island, R.I.: Deepwater Wind offshore wind[+]NEWSDAY VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure>Given the violent and unpredictable conditions of deep ocean water, not to mention the weight and balance of a wind turbine, it is understandable that the technology required to mount a floating turbine was only created recently. A proposed solution was devised by Sandia National Laboratory, in partnership with the Department of Energy and universities around the nation. After conducting Phase One research under a grant of\u00a0$4.1 million over 5 years<\/a>, this solution provided insights which included a\u00a0reduction<\/a>\u00a0in Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) through the application of a VAWT design.Much of Sandia Labs\u2019 initial work was in creating simulations of offshore wind projects. Further\u00a0developments<\/a>\u00a0have included improving the design of airfoils and mechanical generators, as well as perfecting the methods to secure a turbine for safe operation in deep water conditions. The project research concluded in 2014, and was followed by a\u00a0Department of Energy<\/a>\u00a0publication in 2017 establishing the official design recommendations.<\/p>\n

Current VAWT market solutions are all geared towards microgrid and extreme weather applications. They possess an inherent benefit in that they are able to perform well in stressful weather environments; turbines are able to function even in\u00a0typhoon weather<\/a>, which can be a a lifesaver for deep ocean water infrastructure such as oil wells.<\/p>\n

Nations including the United Kingdom and Germany are already at the forefront for production capacity and investment in offshore wind. The British Isles are home to the\u00a0first GE-made 12 MW (MegaWatt) offshore unit<\/a>, the same design being used in the Vineyard Wind project.<\/p>\n

British interests reside in coastal sea applications, where conditions are easily managed by the HAWT design offered by GE. \u00a0The U.S. project is the\u00a0Block Island<\/a>\u00a0wind farm three miles off the coast of Rhode Island, which produces 30 MW from a series of units provided by GE, enough to power 27,000 homes. Few nations currently use deep-sea wind energy, as it can\u00a0cost twice as much<\/a>\u00a0as the coastal alternative on an LCOE basis.<\/p>\n

Offshore wind has found a niche application for providing offshore power. One of the most demanding clients for offshore energy is the oil industry, which currently powers platforms with diesel electric generators. The typical offshore oil well consumes\u00a020-30 cubic meters<\/a>\u00a0(5200-8000 gallons) per day. This specific application allows a high LCOE \u2013 like offshore wind \u2013 to be considered competitive.<\/p>\n

Recent investments by Norwegian energy provider Equinor in the North Sea focus on powering their oil platforms with offshore wind. The proposed\u00a0Hywind Tampen<\/a>\u00a0project includes 11 floating HAWTs producing 88 MW, meeting upwards of 35% of energy demand for a series of five offshore platforms. The Hywind project is expected to cut 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Further investment in offshore wind technology could eliminate the need for diesel fuel altogether.<\/p>\n

In the United States, there have been small-scale projects to test the designs of floating HAWTs. In 2013, a scale model was installed off the coast of Maine by the\u00a0DeepCwind Consortium<\/a>, working in partnership with the University of Maine. The Seattle-based Principle Power has installed their patented Windfloat design off the U.S. west coast in a deep sea application. Principle Power currently has\u00a0five units in operation<\/a>\u00a0and has proven their design\u2019s ability to withstand up to 17 m (55\u2019 9\u201d) waves and 41 m\/s (92 mph) winds.<\/p>\n

If the United States chooses to invest further in the development of floating VAWT turbine technology, it could become the global leader in deep sea wind. Once it overcomes the technical barriers created by materials and mechanical systems, the production capacity of a deep-sea wind farm is infinitely scalable when the correct technology is utilized. Models such as those created by the Oxford Brookes University team give credence to the idea of replacing floating oil platforms with wind turbines. The ultimate irony would be oil giants applying their deep-sea technologies to develop the first line of scalable floating turbines for deep sea applications.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> Forbes.com<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ariel Cohen What makes renewable energy so exciting is the immense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-17575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2","8":"tag-84","9":"tag-6"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17582,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17575\/revisions\/17582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water-waste.gr\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}