Posted on 06/11/2021 12:16:43 PM PDT by Red Badger
A single Windcatcher floating offshore grid could power 80,000 European homes at grid-parity pricesWind Catching Systems VIEW 4 IMAGES
Norway's Wind Catching Systems (WCS) has made a spectacular debut with a colossal floating wind turbine array it says can generate five times the annual energy of the world's biggest single turbines – while reducing costs enough to be immediately competitive with grid prices.
Standing more than 1,000 ft (324 m) high, these mammoth Windcatcher grids would deploy multiple smaller turbines (no less than 117 in the render images) in a staggered formation atop a floating platform moored to the ocean floor using established practices from the oil and gas industry.
Just one of these arrays, says WCS, could offer double the swept area of the world's biggest conventional wind turbines – the 15 MW Vestas V236 – and its smaller rotors could perform much better in wind speeds over 40 to 43 km/h (25 to 27 mph), when larger turbines tend to start pitching their blades to limit production and protect themselves from damage. The overall effect, says WCS, is a 500 percent boost in annual energy output, with each array making enough power to run 80,000 European homes.
Rather than using massive single components, these Windcatchers are built with smaller pieces that are much easier to work with. Once the floating base is installed, most of the rest can be done on deck, without cranes or specialized vessels, and the grid design allows easy access for ongoing maintenance. WCS says these arrays are ready for a 50-year service life, as opposed to the 30 years of a single large turbine.
The company says it's ready to start delivering offshore wind power on debut at grid parity – meaning at a levelized cost of energy (LCOE, taking capital costs into account) matching or beating the price of grid power. In Norway and the USA, that currently averages out at about US$105 per megawatt-hour. The US Energy Information Administration currently projects the capacity-weighted LCOE of new offshore wind assets coming online in 2026 to average $115.04 per megawatt-hour, with some regions capable of getting that under US$100.
To give you a sense of scale, WCS has pictured the Windcatcher grid alongside the 1,063-ft-high Eiffel Tower, among other thingsWind Catching Systems So this will still be a relatively expensive way to generate electricity, especially compared to land-based wind and solar, but it could still be a cost saver for offshore wind. And WCS says its projections are based on an initial installation size that it believes will become significantly more economical as it scales up.
The company has the backing of investment companies North Energy and Ferd, and has developed the technology in conjunction with offshore wind supplier Aibel and the IFE Institute for Energy Technology.
WCS has not yet released further details about prototypes or first installations, so while it does have the appearance of a legit technology, it seems we'll have to wait some time before it proves its claims.
Source: Wind Catching Systems
https://windcatching.com/
Don’t forget about Malibu, Long Island Sound, the beaches of the Hamptons, puget Sound to name a few more places.
NIMBY commies must own and control all that they see, including the properties of others.
Windmills-on-the-Hudson. That’d learn ‘em.
Thanks. BTW, “enthalpy” was new vocab for me. Now I’ll use it on someone else.
I am pushing the use of LNG as energy source. It is readily available, clean burning and will provide beaucoup(a little French) of American jobs inside our country. Methane hydrates are another form of energy available offshore in colder waters. Another million dollar industry that could bring plenty of work(and therefore tax dollars) to our country. Biden is missing the boat — he could plagiarize Trump and become a great president instead of a curse for us.
Things could go wr0ng that they have never even considered.
“With these things anchored out in Norwegian waters, how are those magic rotors going to operate when encased in ice?”
Blades are heated with electricity from modular nuclear reactors submerged underneath.
Uhhhhhh…….Yes, please.
Nuclear Reactors eh? Why not just generate electricity with nukes and forget about that 130 foot high eyesore which will kill more birds and water fowl? BTW...yer idea that the ugly thing will have nuke powered defrosters is just bit too pat. I hate to think what bodily orifice you pulled THAT out of. I still say it’s a hare-brained idea only a drunken Norwegian would dream up. I’ve been friends with several. Swedes, too. One of THEM once told me, “What’s dumber than a dumb Norwegian? A smart Swede!”
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