Development of offshore wind farms has been restricted to places where turbines can be attached to the sea bed.
But 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.
A Hywind floating wind turbine being hauled to sea off Norway.
(Credit: Siemens)If successful, the project could open up offshore wind to countries that don't have relatively shallow waters of 100 feet to 165 feet off their coasts. The Hywind is suitable for depths of about 400 feet to more than 2,200 feet.
"Hywind could open...new opportunities for exploitation of offshore wind power, as the turbines could be placed much more freely than before," Henrik Stiesdal, chief technology of the Siemens' Wind Power business unit, said in a statement.
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.
To address the conditions of the deep sea, the turbine will have a specially designed control system that will seek to dampen the motion from waves.
Lithium ion battery company Valence plans to supply batteries to Siemens for hybrid ships and to Chicago utility S&C Electric for grid storage.
Its deal with Siemens Drive Technologies calls for Valence to develop energy storage for a planned hybrid marine propulsion system from Siemens. Valence will hook up its lithium iron magnesium phosphate batteries to Siemens' drive system via a standard interface, the company said.
The two companies have already supplied a hybrid drive train for double-decker buses from Wrightbus.
Valence on Wednesday said it intends to supply grid-connected storage systems for S&C Electric, which will enable the utility to use more wind and solar power.
Austin, Texas-based Valence is one of several small battery companies vying for business from large industrial companies in transportation and the power industry. Making deals with large corporations is vital to their success.
A123 Systems, for example, signed a deal with Chrysler for electric vehicles, though that deal is now in question, as Chrysler may be acquired by Fiat. Boston Power last week said it is already testing its Swing car battery pack with automakers.
Grid storage, too, has become a potential market, as more utilities look to large-scale storage--on the order of 1 or 2 megawatts of capacity--to stabilize the flow of electricity on the grid, and to store solar and wind power.
The Greenster sports old-school style on the outside, but green-school tech on the inside.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)RUF Automobile and Siemens Corporate Technology, the research arm of Siemens, debuted their all electric car concept at the Geneva Motor Show this week.
The Greenster, like its name suggests, is designed to look like a roadster vehicle of yesteryear complete with plaid seats. But the tech speaks to the 2000's interest in green technology.
Siemens is providing technology for the car's power train which includes the motor/generator, the power electronics, and the interface with the car's battery.
The Greenster concept car displayed at the Geneva Motor Show had only one motor. But the Pfaffenhausen, Germany-based company said in a statement that the street version, which the company plans to start selling in 2010, will actually have a dual-motor system.
The electric vehicle will be able to recharge in less than an hour when plugged into a 400V outlet. The company made no mention of how long the car might take to recharge if the street version is made to plug into household outlets, which fall between 100 and 240 volts, depending on the country.
Greenster's interior includes the nice throwback touch of black, white, and tan plaid seats.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)
RUF's Greenster in partnership with Siemens.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)Mitsubishi and Peugeot Citroën made an announcement of a similar nature late Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show.
The two companies have signed an agreement to collaborate on an electric car based on Mitzubishi's i Miev that should become available in late 2010 or early 2011. The car will be manufactured by Mitsubishi, but sold under the Peugeot brand name, according to the agreement.
The i Miev, which will take about 7 hours to recharge at 200V outlets and 14 hours at 100V outlets, is being launched this summer in Japan, with testing and pilot projects underway in the U.S., Europe, and New Zealand, according to Mitsubishi.
Siemens Energy plans to open its first U.S. wind turbine research and development facility in Boulder, Colo.
The energy sector of the German company made the announcement on Tuesday in Houston, Texas, at Windpower 2008, the American Wind Energy Association's annual conference.
The center will concentrate on everything from designing better wind turbine components such as aerodynamic blades to conducting atmospheric-science research.
The strongest wind turbine Siemens currently makes has a capacity of 3.6 megawatts, according to the company. The one being used in Colorado will have a 2.3-megawatt capacity.
(Credit: Siemens)As part of the plan, Siemens Energy will collaborate with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to install a Siemens 2.3-megawatt (MW) wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center located just outside of Boulder.
"The creation of these green jobs is good for our economy and our communities and will help set us on a path of greater energy independence," Colorado Governor Bill Ritter said in a statement.
The Siemens R&D center, however, will create only about "12 to 15 green-collar positions in the first year," with a total of 50 new jobs in Colorado by 2013, according to Siemens' own estimates. And those jobs may not be what many economic reports predict could supplant lost jobs for blue-collar professionals.
Most of the employees of the new Siemens facility will be "new hires with a Ph.D. or master's degree in the desired disciplines," according to the Siemens announcement.
Siemens already has wind turbine R&D centers in Copenhagen, Denmark; Aachen, Germany; Delft, the Netherlands; and Keele, United Kingdom. The U.S. facility will share gained wind technology knowledge with those facilities.
The announcement follows news that increased costs in materials, coupled with engineering challenges, are hindering Europe's push to use more renewable sources like wind energy by 2020, according to a report by Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
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