CenterCut: First floating wind turbine buoyed off Norway

Friday, June 12, 2009

First floating wind turbine buoyed off Norway

A Hywind floating wind turbine being hauled to sea off Norway. (Credit: Siemens)

Earlier this week, Siemens and energy company StatoilHydro installed what they call the first large-scale floating turbine. The installation is off the coast of Norway, and testing is expected to last for two years.

The Hywind turbine will still have a ballast that is tied to the sea floor with cables. Wires will transfer the electricity produced to the mainland grid starting in July. The turbine in Norway will be 7.4 miles offshore where the water is 721 feet deep. It will be utility-size turbine, with a hub height of about 100 feet, capable of generating 2.3 megawatts of electricity.

Source: cnet news

No comments:

Post a Comment

CenterCut - Alternative Energy & Sustainability

Centercut tracks the political implications of policy, tax subsidies, and direct grants on alternative energy and sustainability projects worldwide.

We review articles and scientific journals the world over to discern emerging and replacement technologies, political trends and the occational intellectual cul-de-sac.

In a world under severe stress all systems require new thinking. It is imperative that sustainability and alternative energy become mantras for creative destruction and cascading innovation. Small incremental advances will 'ripple' across our fragile orb in waves of change unimagined.

Blog Editor: Richard L. Wottrich

CenterCut = Center of Gravity

The greatest challenges in life are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity.

Einstein said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” But the mysterious absent wisdom is noise, just as knowledge absent experience is irrelevance.

We are either a marvelous human race celebrating the ascendancy of humanity, science and technology, or we are the miscreants who have created a dysfunctional world under severe stress. Our blessing is that we still have a choice.

Richard L. Wottrich

Centercut Definitions

Alternative Energy - Energy Systems derived from sources that do not deplete irreplaceable natural resources or harm the environment.

Sustainability - The ability to maintain balance of a certain process or state in any system, especially related to the depletion of world energy and water resources at a rate that cannot be replaced.

Stakeholders - The end-users or clients, the people from whom requirements will be drawn, the people who will influence the design and, ultimately, the people who will reap the benefits of a completed project.