Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
beneits will be access to a far greater number of potential sites with fewer conlicts with hu-
man activity and wildlife.
First, the industry must gain experience deploying wind turbines in water depths up to
30 m. Basic technical issues must be understood before moving into deeper waters, issues
such as the following:
-
structural loading from wind and wave combinations
-
environmental impacts
-
wind turbine operation and maintenance at sea
-
regulatory issues
Logically, the next step is to deploy systems at transitional depths (30 m to 60 m) to ex-
pand the number of available sites. Transitional technology deals mostly with substructures
that can be adapted from existing offshore oil and gas practices. Finally, technology for deep
water deployment (60 m to 900 m) will be developed. This technology may require loating
systems [Musial
et al.
2004], which will necessitate a more advanced course of research and
development to optimize turbines that are lightweight and can survive additional tower-top
motion induced by buoyant platforms. No loating offshore wind turbines have yet been de-
ployed, but several companies are coming close to demonstrating the technology at sea.
Technologically, the design of deep-water foundations and substructures will be the
most challenging step, but a step that also holds the most promise for the long term. The de-
velopment of deep-water technology would open up major areas of the outer continental shelf
to wind energy development where the turbines would not be visible from shore and where
competition with other human activities would be minimal. Deep-water platforms may in
fact be easier to mass produce with greater possibility for onshore assembly and full system
transport, introducing a major new opportunity for cost reduction [Butterield
et al.
2005].
The pathway to deep water deployment should not be considered as a mutually-exclusive
alternative to development of shallow water offshore wind systems. There is a high degree of
interdependence among the technology requirements for shallow-water, transitional-water,
and deep-water wind systems. To understand the technical and commercial complexities of
deep-water loating wind turbines, it will be necessary to approach their design from experi-
ence and knowledge about shallow-water offshore wind power stations.
Research Needs
The advancement of offshore wind power stations is hindered by many technical, regula-
tory, socioeconomic, and political barriers that can only be mitigated through targeted R&D
efforts. Short-term research can address impediments that prevent the early commercial
projects from proceeding. This research is required to build the needed experience for long-
term optimization and commercial deployment of advanced systems. Short-term research
topics include the development of standards for offshore deployment, remote sensing tools
for monitoring the offshore wind, characterization of the offshore ocean environment, and the
development of advanced design tools that will allow accurate modeling of new concepts.
Long-term research will involve the design and testing of new offshore systems devel-
oped for the speciic requirements of the marine environment. The design of larger turbines,
from 5 MW to 10 MW in size, for offshore deployment will require enabling technologies that
overcome current scaling limits in blade length, tower height, and rotor/nacelle weight. New
machines will need to incorporate higher reliability components that must evolve through
rigorous analysis and testing. Holistic turbine designs will integrate the logistics of installa-
tion, operations, and decommissioning with the turbine design, resulting in lower life-cycle
costs. Lightweight materials and turbine weight reduction strategies must be developed to
optimize offshore systems, especially loating designs.
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