MIT designs 'invisible,' floating wind turbines

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has designed a system to place wind turbines far offshore and out of sight.

Paul D. Sclavounos, a professor of mechanical engineering and naval architecture, worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to design a system that uses cables to tether large turbines to floating platforms.

The tethers connect the platform to concrete blocks on the ocean floor in up to about 650 feet of water. According to Sclavounos and the NREL, the arrangement is stable enough to operate even in large waves brought by a hurricane because the design limits the turbine to mainly back-and-forth movements, rather than up and down.

Wind power is one of the fastest-growing clean-energy sectors worldwide, but proposals to build offshore wind turbines have met public resistance in the United States, largely due to aesthetic concerns.

Traditional offshore turbines are placed in relatively shallow water and visible from the shoreline. One notable example is the Cape Wind proposal--a 420-megawatt facility that has drawn opposition.

Encouraged by positive responses from wind, electric power and oil companies, Sclavounos--who previously worked building offshore platforms for deep-sea oil and gas exploration--hopes to install a half-scale prototype south of Cape Cod.

In a statement, he said that the 90-meter-high systems would generate twice as much electricity per installed megawatt as near-shore turbines because the winds are strong and steady farther out at sea.

Construction of the turbines, which would be large, multi-megawatt systems, would most likely take place onshore at a shipyard. They could conceivably be towed to different locations, according to MIT and the NREL.

[jhracing]

Invisible to people maybe

I wonder if sea birds will find these to be quite as invisible.

[Scuba_Steve1974]

Right. Like environmentalists won't b*tch and moan about these

When will people realize that environmentalists are against all forms of energy production? Yea, maybe Jane and Joe Enviro down the street will cheer this advance, but the leaders raking in the cash at hardline environmental groups will find a way to oppose these things. Guaranteed. When a major project is about to begin you can expect to hear the black-or-white arguments of environmental armageddon that these people are famous for.

Why are environmental groups against any form of energy production? Who knows? Some say that an environmentally-friendly future will cause their positions of power and privilege to become obsolete. Others point out that the anti-individual / anti-capitalist agenda of these organizations forces them to be against all forms of energy production since capitalism requires a steady stream of energy. Me? I personally believe it's a combination of both.

Sadly, most people still seem to believe that environmental groups are concerned about the environment, and we are all paying the price of these energy obstructionists every time you fill up at the pump or receive an electric bill.

So...

Electricity and water? Thought that was a bad thing

[ralfthedog]

The perspective of a left wing liberal environmentalist

It sounds good in principle however, I don't think one little story on C/Net gives us enough information. My guess is that the project will have very little environmental impact. A few birds will get Ginsued however not enough to affect genetic diversity.

The real question is will this project work from an economic standpoint? How often will the hardware break? How many people will it take to maintain the power lines? What percentage of the time will each generator be operational.

Like most if not all left wing liberal environmentalists I believe that no solution will work if it is not economically sound. I might invest a small amount of money in a project like this, but only from my, "Crazy idea that probably will not work, but if it does it will make a ton of money" fund.

[Spirit Dog]

Good for the ecosystem

So a few sea birds get whacked. I don't think anyone can claim that the world needs more sea gulls. This may actually be beneficial. Shark populations are under tremendous pressure - dead sea gulls would attract and feed more sharks - which would help to increase their populations. This in-turn could spawn a cottage industry that provides shark diving trips around the wind turbines. Who would have thought that so much more than energy could be derived from these off shore turbines?

[dmm]

Hurricane protection?

I wonder, would the intensity of hurricanes hitting the US Gulf & East coasts be reduced, if there were scads of big wind turbines offshore, sucking the energy out of the storms? People would love it, until scientists discovered that those hurricanes provided some important service that we had never before noticed, like bringing rain water inland or something.

Nothing is free, and especially not energy. So use it carefully.

[lingsun]

Liberals always oppose wind power in their neighborhoods

Liberals always oppose wind power in their neighborhoods. Hypocrites.