Offshore wind turbines have to date been mounted on foundations resting on the bottom of the ocean. This design best resists the forces from wind and waves. Currently the deepest this design can be used is 60 meters. This puts 60% of the US’s offshore sites out of reach.
One solution is to mount the wind turbine on a floating platform that is anchored by adjustable cables to the ocean floor. This design concept is the subject of a recent Verge article.
Rogier Blom, GE’s principal investigator on this new design, described the problem as “putting a bus on a tall pole, making it float and then stabilizing it while it interacts with wind and waves. GE is ambitious with their goal of the initial wind turbine being as tall as the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument combined. Hard would be hard for any engineer to wrap their mind around attempting a feat of that size.
It will be interesting to see if this idea works as at the moment there are just a few floating wind turbines operating and there are none at commercial-scale we see on land. – Dr. Tom
