Author: Peter Verhoeff
Article:
A Norwegian company, StatoilHydro, is planning to build Hywind,
a floating wind turbine about 10 kilometers off the West coast
of Norway. Hywind is to be the first full-scale biofriendly
floating wind turbine. It will be built using existing offshore
technologies. “We have drawn on our offshore expertise from
the oil and gas industry to develop wind power offshore,”
states Alexandra Bech Gjørv, head of New Energy in
StatoilHydro. (1)
The wind turbine will be located in the open sea, because there
the winds are stronger and more consistent. A 3-meter high
prototype scale model was developed and tested in 2005. It
turned out to be very successful and operated reliably in
extremely adverse weather conditions.
The full-sized version is scheduled to become operational in
2009. The 2.3 MW wind turbine, made by Siemens, the
Germany-based electronics giant, will be located on a mast atop
a floating platform that will be moored to the seabed with three
anchor points. The rotor blades of the turbine will be 80 meters
(244 feet) in diameter and centered 65 meters (198 feet) above
sea level.
The floating concrete platform installation can be operated in
waters between 120 to 700 meters (366 to 2,134 feet) deep. It is
to be assembled on land and towed out to sea with a tugboat,
where it will be moored about 10 kilometers offshore. Cables on
the seabed will conduct the generated electrical power from the
turbines to the shore.
The purpose of this project is to test the feasibility of
deep-water floating wind turbines, with the object of making
wind power competitive with other power sources. If this pilot
project turns out to be successful, the plan is to establish
vast offshore wind farms of up to 200 turbines producing up to a
thousand megawatts of power.
While the results of the scale model were promising, the
technology of floating wind turbines in the real world yet has
to be proven. To be viable, they must be able to function
reliably, even with big waves and be operated and maintained
safely and economically.
The potential of offshore floating wind turbines is huge. If
successful, it will be able to provide abundant clean energy. At
this early stage many difficulties will need to be overcome and
success will depend largely on ingenuity and available financial
resources.
Many other alternative energy sources are being tested and
developed, as well as methods of utilizing existing sources more
effectively and thus bring about a cleaner, greener planet. One
company,
Corporation, has developed a liquid fuel catalyst, called
.html">Green Plus®, which causes a cleaner, more linear
burn in internal combustion engines, the result of which is more
torque, fewer harmful emissions and improved fuel economy.
For more information about Green Plus, visit the Biofriendly
website at www.biofriendly.com.
References: (1)
http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/NewsAndMedia/News/2008/Pages/hywin
d_fullscale.aspx
About the author:
Author, Peter Verhoeff, contributes articles on environmental
issues for Biofriendly Corporation. More information on these
and other topics can be found on the
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