A behemoth V164 offshore wind turbine from Danish company MHI Vestas Offshore Wind has produced almost 216,000 kWh over a 24-hour period during tests at its site near Østerild, Denmark in December. In doing so, the 9 MW prototype – a reworked version of the V164-8.0 MW, which was initially developed in 2012 and launched two years later – takes the energy generation record for a commercially available offshore wind turbine.
Since its launch in 2014, the Usain Bolt of wind turbines is essentially in competition with itself, largely due to its superior size over the competition. The V164 stands at 722 feet (220 m) at full height, with 38-ton blades that are 263 feet (80 m) in length for a total sweep area of 227,377 square feet (21,124 square meters) – larger than the giant London Eye Ferris wheel.
The larger the size, the greater the efficiency tends to be, meaning a reduction in installation and maintenance costs per kilowatts produced, or more bang for the buck. The V164 is also built to withstand harsh North Sea conditions, while 80 percent of the turbine is able to be recycled at the end of its 25-year operational life. It's designed for optimal wind speeds of 12-25 meters/second (27-56 mph), with a minimum or cut-in wind speed of 4 m/s (9 mph).
"We are confident that the 9 MW machine has now proven that it is ready for the market and we believe that our wind turbine will play an integral part in enabling the offshore industry to continue to drive down the cost of energy," said Torben Hvid Larsen, company CTO. The energy generation record set on December 1 by the prototype now stands at 215,999.1 kWh produced over a 24-hour period.
Innovations such as the V164 have helped lower the levelized energy cost (the unit cost of electricity over a turbine's life) of offshore wind power, pushing it below £100 (US$125) per megawatt-hour in the UK, four years ahead of targets set by the government.
Source: MHI Vestas Offshore Wind
What are the disastrous consequences on the blade tips moving fast? The thing is standing, working and breaking records. Get a hold of yourself.
The only point you really have is about the capacity factors. Yes, wind turbines (varies by location but between low 20's and upper 40's) have lower capacity factors than coal plants (in the US they run at about 55%). But coal plants are a much older and widely used technology that has matured a lot more. And it has other environmental costs that we are not accounting for. Not to mention wind power will continue to get cheaper and always operate at zero marginal cost (the fuel is free) while coal power will rise over time due to the rise in cost of coal (or at least there is a lot more uncertainty).
In 25 years from now people will find it hard to think that people like you ever existed. You are not unlike those who resisted coal power replacing wood and whale oil in the 1800's.
Why nobody thought of this is beyond me.
1. Learn to Google 2. try not to make comments that are irrelevant 3. Read what 'habakak said.
http://eco-globe.com/wind-turbine-design-basics/