In the United States, offshore windfarms are being carefully scrutinized for their clean energy-producing potential.
In fact, offshore windfarms have the potential to deliver large amounts of clean, renewable energy to fulfill the electrical needs of cities along U.S. coastlines.
Under conditions that foster offshore wind utilization, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the technical resource potential for U.S. offshore wind is more than 4,200 gigawatts of capacity, or 13,500 terawatt-hours per year of generation.
Energy analysts have been predicting for some time now that the U.S. offshore wind industry is ready for takeoff.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) works collaboratively with industry and academia to address research challenges that are unique to U.S. offshore wind (like hurricanes), and to understand and address market barriers such as environmental impacts, logistical challenges, siting and permitting, and infrastructure development.
The DOE is also working to demonstrate advanced technologies.
With the development of the offshore wind industry, larger and larger offshore windfarms are being considered and installed further and further from the coast.
To achieve this, new connection technologies are being considered. Indeed, the transport of current by cables over long distances leads to significant losses, which can be reduced by increasing the voltage.
For wind farms with large capacities (around 1GW), it is therefore possible to use direct current systems (HVDC) rather than alternating current (HVAC). These technologies require special expertise, which leads to additional constraints during the operation phase.
To face the increasing distance of wind farms, and to be able to develop offshore wind power in areas where the sea soil is too deep, research is focusing on floating wind power. The first projects are currently only prototypes.
Its development raises many questions, particularly with regard to the skills related to anchoring or the rapid deterioration of cables subjected to a perpetually variable mechanical tension.
Want to know more about offshore wind farms? Tonex offers Offshore Windfarm Training, a 2-day course that help participants to understand the technological developments of offshore wind farms, different types of wind turbines implemented for offshore projects, control of offshore wind farms, protection and reliability assessment of offshore wind technologies.
Additionally, Tonex offers more than two dozen courses in Power and Energy – everything from power grid and microgrid training to NERC CIP, offshore wind farms, smart grids, synchronous machines and much more.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.