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.
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Big prizes awarded to European electricity prediction specialists
LONDON - Three European prediction specialists have won prizes worth €2 million for developing the most accurate predictions of electricity flow through a grid
The three winners of the Big Data Technologies Horizon Prize received their awards at a ceremony on 12th November in Austria.
The first prize of €1.2 million went to Professor José Vilar from Spain, while Belgians Sofie Verrewaere and Yann-Aël Le Borgne came in joint second place and won €400,000 each.
The challenge was open to individuals groups and organisations from countries taking part in the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and…
