American company presents a great platform concept that will enable the implementation of floating offshore wind turbines
Investment in offshore wind energy is increasing and should continue to grow over the next few decades. Several companies have projects aimed at developing new technologies that increase performance and cut costs in wind energy. With that in mind, GE is developing an advanced control system to support a floating offshore wind turbine of 12 megawatts (MW).
The project will cost 4 billion dollars and is being developed through ATLANTIS (Light and Floating Aerodynamic Turbines with Nautical Technologies and Integrated Servo-control). O project aims to encourage the development of new floating wind turbine technologies.
The project aims to develop a system of control technology, which will allow the floating wind turbines of the future to have up to 35% less mass than today's conventional sizes.
"Designing a floating turbine is like putting a bus on a tall pole, floating it and then stabilizing it as it interacts with wind and waves. Doing it well is a design and control challenge.”, declared Rogier Blom, lead engineer on the project.
Lots of savings in the future
Glosten, company consultancy and maritime design, is taking part in the project together with GE. The partnership should yield a project that can be up to 35% lighter, making the cost drop.
“Today, these fixed offshore wind turbines are limited to depths of 60 meters or less. With floating turbines, we would be able to dramatically expand the reach of offshore wind energy to areas with water depths of 60 meters or more.”, declared Blom.
Offshore wind is a resource that is still very little explored. The company expects the project to more than double the offshore wind power generation capacity in the US.
