Lake Michigan: A source of wind power?
HOUGHTON, Mich., Jun 15, 2012 -- UPI
Lake Michigan is an untapped reservoir of wind energy, say
researchers who are studying whether it can be harvested economically
and without environmental harm.
Scientists at Michigan Technological University have been gathering
data come from a 6-ton floating buoy deployed at three locations in the
lake, two near the shoreline and another 35 miles off shore.
Loaded with scientific equipment, the buoy has provided the first
direct measurement of wind over the Great Lakes at the height of
commercial turbines, a university release reported Thursday.
The buoy is solar and wind powered and has a backup diesel generator,
allowing it to run fully automated and gather data for almost a year,
researchers said.
"This is really quite an instrument," MTU researcher Guy Meadows
said, and the results have been "very interesting."
"In particular, winds measured close to the shoreline were very
turbulent, because of the presence of land," Meadows said. "But the
farther the buoy was from shore, the more the fluctuations were
reduced."
That's vital for wind generation, because less turbulence means more
efficient wind turbines and less stress placed on their support
structure, the researchers said.
"The Great Lakes in general are very wind rich, second only to the
Pacific Northwest," Meadows said. "The question is, how do you capture
that energy in an environmentally conscious way? And from an engineering
standpoint, how do design equipment that will capture it and survive our
most severe weather? These are big challenges."
News Provided By
|