Floating ocean wind turbines proposed
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Jun 30, 2010 -- UPI
Wind turbines as a renewable energy source have problems of noise,
visual clutter and land use, and one U.S. researcher says moving them
offshore is a solution.
Offshore wind farms have been built, but only in shallow water near
coasts, and one naval architect wants to go much farther out by placing
turbines on floating platforms, a release from the American Institute of
Physics said Wednesday.
Dominique Roddier of Marine Innovation & Technology of Berkeley, Calif.,
has proposed a platform design dubbed "WindFloat" based on existing gas
and oil platform designs.
Roddier and his and colleagues published a feasibility study of the
design in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, published by
the AIP.
Testing of a small scale model in a wave tank showed the platform is
stable enough to support a 5-megawatt wind turbine producing enough
energy "to support a small town," Roddier said.
A full-size prototype being built in collaboration with electricity
company Energia de Portugal "should be in the water by the end of 2012,"
Roddier says.
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