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Engineering offshore wind energy for volume production
This is a great introduction to the technologies involved in the installation of offshore wind in waters up to about 50-60 meters (<200ft) deep, and a discussion of how to streamline the process.
Wind energy gets serial
Solid foundations: onshore assembly could enable serial production of offshore wind turbines
30 April 2012 | By Andrew Czyzewski
When Germany announced that it was effectively turning its back on nuclear power by mothballing all of its reactors by 2022, there were more than a few surprised faces and some awkward questions.
How exactly did the country think it was going to meet its energy needs? Surely it would have to import considerable amounts from neighbouring France, thereby subscribing to nuclear by proxy.
The answer was perhaps even more surprising. On 1 January this year, the German parliament enshrined into law an act requiring that by 2020 35 per cent of all of its energy needs must be provided by renewable sources, followed by 50 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050 — far more ambitious in scope and magnitude than the European Union’s target of 20 per cent by 2020.
...
‘The market asks for some kind of serial manufacturing, and in fact you can’t do that out there off shore under all these conditions, so our concept is to do as much as possible on shore — not only foundations but assembly of the tower and converter, and most probably the rotor blades, and then transport it in a day. It is a huge competitive advantage; we’re convinced we can do a whole wind park in a year.’ ...
Solid foundations: onshore assembly could enable serial production of offshore wind turbines
30 April 2012 | By Andrew Czyzewski
When Germany announced that it was effectively turning its back on nuclear power by mothballing all of its reactors by 2022, there were more than a few surprised faces and some awkward questions.
How exactly did the country think it was going to meet its energy needs? Surely it would have to import considerable amounts from neighbouring France, thereby subscribing to nuclear by proxy.
The answer was perhaps even more surprising. On 1 January this year, the German parliament enshrined into law an act requiring that by 2020 35 per cent of all of its energy needs must be provided by renewable sources, followed by 50 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050 — far more ambitious in scope and magnitude than the European Union’s target of 20 per cent by 2020.
...
‘The market asks for some kind of serial manufacturing, and in fact you can’t do that out there off shore under all these conditions, so our concept is to do as much as possible on shore — not only foundations but assembly of the tower and converter, and most probably the rotor blades, and then transport it in a day. It is a huge competitive advantage; we’re convinced we can do a whole wind park in a year.’ ...
Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/the-big-story/wind-energy-gets-serial/1012449.article#ixzz1tZ30ylLG
