The new frontier of offshore wind power is floating wind turbines. That’s because they can be installed in deep water where wind speeds are consistently higher. The new designs have the floating turbines, that bob and sway with the waves and wind, stabilised with ballast or anchored with chains to the seafloor. Emma Edwards at Oxford University looks at the six major categories of design: Spar, Barge, Tension-leg platform, Semi-submersible, … [Read more...]
“Floato-voltaics”: floating solar farms on existing municipal water reservoirs
The municipality of Cohoes, population 17,000, in New York State, is building a floating solar farm on its 10-acre water reservoir. It should power all the city-owned buildings and streetlights, save $500,000/year in electricity costs and still leave 40% of the generated electricity remaining for other civic use. It will cost $6m. It will be a first for a U.S. city, explains Connor O'Neil at NREL. The case for city “floato-voltaics” is so … [Read more...]