Floating ocean turbines proposed
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA - Wind turbines as a renewable energy source have problems of noise, visual clutter and land use, and one U.S. researcher says moving them offshore is a solution.
Offshore wind farms have been built, but only in shallow water near coasts, and one naval architect wants to go much farther out by placing turbines on floating platforms, a release from the American Institute of Physics said.
Dominique Roddier of Marine Innovation & Technology of Berkeley, Calif., has proposed a platform design dubbed "WindFloat" based on existing gas and oil platform designs.
Roddier and his and colleagues published a feasibility study of the design in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, published by the AIP.
Testing of a small scale model in a wave tank showed the platform is stable enough to support a 5-megawatt wind turbine producing enough energy "to support a small town," Roddier said.
A full-size prototype being built in collaboration with electricity company Energia de Portugal "should be in the water by the end of 2012," Roddier says.
Related News

China boosts wind energy, photovoltaic and concentrated solar power
BEIJING - China leads renewable energies, installing more wind power, solar thermal and photovoltaic than any other country, but also leads CO2 emissions, and much remains to be done.
The effective application of Chinas renewable energy law has boosted the use of renewable energy in the country and facilitated the rapid development of the sector, a report said.
The report on compliance with renewable energy law was presented today at the current bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Assembly (APN).
Electricity generated by renewable energy amounted to about 1.87 trillion kilowatts per hour in 2018, representing 26.7 percent of…