Wind Turbines Pushed Offshore

A new collaboration between Risø DTU (Technical University of Denmark) and international partners will be exploring new methods in which to create energy from wind turbines set offshore. The four year project, entitled DeepWind, has a €3 million grant from the European FP7 program for future emerging technologies and was launched on the first of October.

“Our objective is to develop more cost-effective MW wind turbines through dedicated technology rather than advancing existing concepts that are based on onshore technology being transported to the sea environment. Offshore wind energy today is twice as expensive as onshore technologies. That means that there is plenty of room for improvement,” says DeepWind Project Manager Uwe Schmidt Paulsen, Risø DTU.

The name DeepWind is not only the name of the project, but also the concept, which combines a vertical-axis windturbine, new blade techn9ology, full power transmission and control system, combined with a rotating and floating offshore substructure.

“The technology behind the proposed concept gives significant challenges and requires technological breakthroughs. We need explicit research in a wide area of different technology fields and materials. For example we foresee research in the dynamics of the system, pultruded blades with adequate material properties, sub-sea power generators and converters, turbine control and safety systems, wave and current loading on the rotating and floating shaft, and also the mooring and torque absorption system,” explains Uwe Schmidt Paulsen.

Offshore wind energy is one of the primary focuses heralded by the European Union as a means to wean the region off oil and coal. DeepWind is one in many such projects looking to expand the field of wind energy generation.

Source: Risø DTU

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