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Giant Floating Windmills To Launch Next Year

Posted by kdawson on from the we've-tried-earth-and-fire dept.

pacroon writes "StatoilHydro is building the world's first full-scale floating wind turbine, Hywind, and testing it over a two-year period offshore of Karmøy, Norway. The company is investing approximately $80 million. Planned startup is in the fall of 2009. The project combines existing technology in innovative ways. A 2.3-MW wind turbine is attached to the top of a so-called Spar-buoy, a solution familiar from production platforms and offshore loading buoys. A model 3 meters tall has already been tested successfully in a wave simulator. The goal of the pilot is to qualify the technology and reduce costs to a level that will mean that floating wind turbines can compete with other energy sources."

7 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Birds? by jamesh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the arguments against wind farms on land has been that they take out the odd bird now and then. Would bird activity be lower out to sea at the altitude that these things sit at?

    1. Re:Birds? by Tracy+Reed · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't get this bird killing thing. I've spent lots of time walking amongst the giant wind turbines around Tehachapi, CA where I grew up. I never saw a dead bird out there nor had I ever heard of these things killing birds until just a few years ago. Does anyone actually have any data on this? So far it sounds like an urban legend.

    2. Re:Birds? by StormyWeather · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just environmentalists looking for a reason to hate the technology. We have tons of the power windmills here, and even when the wind is howling those things move slow as a glacier. The old water pump windmills of the plains would have been a bigger threat, but I'll bet the birds loved the water from the horse troughs.

    3. Re:Birds? by vlm · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Studies show that the number of birds killed by wind turbines is negligible compared to the number that die as a result of other human activities such as traffic, hunting, power lines and high-rise buildings...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power#Birds What about human activities like ... eating? The most obvious problems are often overlooked. Given a highrise with 10K people inside, it really doesn't matter if one or two birds crash into it, if they are renting the ground floor to KFC.
      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  2. Re:Transmission? by Darkman,+Walkin+Dude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Indeed, Denmark already has extensive offshore windfarm resources, and they produce a good percentage of their power from wind as well. A small country like Ireland could well produce most or all of its power with this technology.

    This also solves the issue with noise from wind generators anchored in deep water, which the Danes have estimated could cause problems for whales - sound travels much farther in deep water.

    And can we please spare the feckless comments on injuring birds, large size windmills move much too slowly to cause a bird damage unless they ploughed into it headlong, and any bird that would do that will have difficulties with flying into cliffs as well.

    --
    What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.
  3. Since it is alway out among the waves . . by Insanity+Defense · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why not include a wave generator as part of the system?

    For the rare individual who does not know. A wave generator in this context does not make waves but uses the motion of waves to generate electricity.

  4. British Solar Water Heating by StCredZero · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There are some great devices for solar water heating produced in Britain. If you treated this as a water preheat, you could use this with a Stirling engine and have your own solar-thermal unit with solar energy storage.

    The big problem there is getting your hands on a Stirling engine.