America's first "commercial scale" offshore wind energy project has decided to use GE's colossal Haliade-X turbines, the world's largest and most powerful. Standing 853 ft (260 m) high – as tall as an 85-story building – with a 722-foot (220 m) rotor, each one can power a home for two days with one spin.
The Vineyard Wind 1 project, an 800 MW renewable energy project, will place a number of these monster turbines some 15 miles off the South coast of Martha's Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts, to take advantage of the strong winds off the East coast of the United states. It'll power about 400,000 houses in New England, expecting to become active sometime in 2023.
Each Haliade-X turbine is a self-contained 12-13 megawatt generator in its own right, capable of generating 67 gigawatt-hours annually under perfect conditions. Making them so huge is key; not only do those 351-foot (107 m) long blades capture some 45 percent more energy than anything else on the market, it's also more effective at lower wind speeds, making its output more predictable. Also, using fewer, larger turbines cuts down significantly on installation costs.
Vineyard Wind 1 might be the largest offshore wind project in America, but its 800 MW capacity lags far behind the world's largest offshore wind project – the 3.6 gigawatt Dogger Bank project in the UK, which will use the same GE turbines. How does that compare to onshore? Well, the world's largest wind project overall is China's Gansu wind farm, with a planned capacity of some 20 gigawatts – although according to The New York Times, political factors have rendered it "mostly idle."
Check out a short video about the Haliade-X turbine below.
Source: Vineyard Wind
including the esteamed ODA:
I here again note to the waiting throng:
1: Errr yes higher is:
.1: More efficient at capturing wind.
.2: It's more efficient at capturing low level off-course aircraft also.
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2: All stationary structures in water are:
.1: Potential prang points for boats off course also.
.2: Mast bases can be turned into a virtuous points -
Why not turn the bases contain refuges for the boats that have bumped into them/got into prob's other?
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3: Finally for this:
EVERYONE KNOWN DOWN HISTORY
(see Greeks, Chinese, South Asian various ancient + current era Mediterranean islands various + Dutch + English)
HAS FINISHED AT HIGHEST POINT OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT WITH A 5 BLADED DESIGN FOR THE VERTICAL ROTOR / VERTICAL CLOSE MAST SET-UP.
This design:
Reduces rotor diameter for same output to same wind conditions
because partially it, obviously, captures more wind
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It provides a more balanced rotor by mostly cancelling the 'back-effect' of the post to passing blade.
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TOP TIPS
Things to do on a blowy day near 3 blade vertical post windmills:
> Watch a 3 blader go round from a frontal view especially.
> You'll see the blade passing in front of the post deflect slightly.
> Go and buy an ice cream and think why - ?
I'm a big fan of nuclear, just not the old school plants, that costs billions & decades to build. Semi-trailer sized reactors produced in a assembly line would be great. I also love nuclear fusion...but were always a decade away from that.
Bad analogy, isn’t it ! They can power a house for the time it takes for the duration of one spin ! Perhaps 10 seconds ?