While Treasurer Joe Hockey might think wind turbines at Capital Wind Farm are ‘utterly offensive‘ and a ‘blight on the landscape’, the USA is scaling up its wind power forays.
The US Department of Energy has announced the deployment of three new offshore wind facilities.
The three projects, located in federal and state waters off the coast of New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia will each receive $47 million in government assistance and will operate as test sites for the latest in innovative, grid-connected wind energy systems.
The projects are part of the Obama Administration’s National Offshore Wind Strategy, which aims to develop a sustainable, profitable wind power industry through public-private partnerships.
“Offshore wind offers a large, untapped energy resource for the United States that can create thousands of manufacturing, construction and supply chain jobs across the country and drive billions of dollars in local economic investment,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “The Energy Department is working with public and private partners to harness this untapped resource in a sustainable and economic manner.”
All three of the selected projects will use the latest in direct-drive (DD) wind turbine technology from different turbine manufacturers. Direct-drive turbines contain fewer moving parts than their standard-gear cousins and are therefore easier and cheaper to build and maintain. They are massive, with each turbine blade running the length of a football field.
Two of the projects; Fishermen’s Energy, approximately seven-kilometres off the coast of Atlantic City, NJ; and Dominion Virginia Power, around 60-km off the coast of Virginia Beach, are located in shallow water and will be anchored to the seabed using a newly patented “twisted jacket foundation”, where three “legs” are twisted around a central column.
According to the DoE. these structures are easier to install than traditional foundations, helping drive down the cost of energy from offshore wind.
In the deep waters of the U.S. West Coast – where more than 60-percent of America’s offshore wind resources are located – Oregon’s Principle Power will use the pioneering WindFloat semi-submersible floating foundation; designed to operate in waters over 300-metres in depth.
More information on the three wind farm test beds can be viewed here.
