Texas Company Will Recycle Offshore Oil Platforms for Wind Turbines
Wind Energy Systems Technology (WEST) will use old oil platforms to support new wind turbines. Herman Schellstede, CEO of WEST, holds sixty-seven U.S. patents and ten international patents, and is a naval architect and marine engineer. His partner, Harold Schoeffler, is a longtime Louisiana environmentalist, having co-founded Save Our Coast. The company is presently engaging in wind monitoring activities, shown in the picture at left. Still, I haven’t seen any announcement of any turbines actually being built on these recycled oil platforms. Wired has a nice story with great visuals dating from Feb. 2007. If anyone has more recent news, please comment below. Remaking old oil platforms into clean energy sources is a beguiling idea, but it would be even more charming to actually see wind turbines producing wind off the coast of Texas.
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May 1st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
This is exactly the type of ingenuity that will move renewable energy forward. If you’re interested in learning about other similar investment opportunities from companies like MilBank, SunPower, GE, BP, Nordbank, JPMorgan, First Solar, etc, I suggest you attend the Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Wall Street (http://www.reffwallstreet.com), June 18-19 in NYC. Considering the US economy to date, knowing which investments are worth the risk—such as repurposing oil platforms for wind energy–is more important than ever.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:55 pm
[...] “Texas Oil Co. Will Recycle Offshore Oil Platforms for Wind Turbines”: CleanTechnica [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I wonder how much underground cable it will take to get all that electricity to shore…
I wonder how many hurricanes it will take to knock it down.
I wonder how much government subsidies it will take to make this stupid idea economically feasible.
This is exactly the kind of silly idea that should be allowed to stand or die on its own merits.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
So, Tom, because there are sometimes hurricanes in the Gulf a small fraction of the year, we should not pursue the idea? With that kind of thinking there wouldn’t be any oil platforms out there already, would there?
And if subsidies are required to get bio or solar or wind up and running, isn’t that a valid investment in the long run? The internet was sponsored by the government (the Navy). Nuclear research was largely funded by the government before commercial entities started building power plants. Public education is paid for by tax payers (that’s us…the people who fund the government).
So it’s better to do NOTHING and give foreign nations all of our money and inherit the security risk by outsourcing the vast majority of our energy needs?
Most of those platforms are much less than 100 miles off shore. I lot closer than hydro-electric dams or nuclear plants are from most of the areas they supply. What difference does it make?
Thank goodness there are some people out there with vision and positive attitudes.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
No it’s not better to do nothing. It’s better to do things that make sense instead of things that make the eco-nazis feel good.
Build nuclear and coal powered plants. Drill for the nearly trillion barrels of oil inside our own country instead of importing it from the middle east.
Build refineries in our country instead of in china and Mexico.
The eco-nuts are causing our country to commit economic suicide.
And the reason you can justify running power to hydro-electric and nuclear plants is because those plants produce massive amounts of power compared to windmills.
And the government shouldn’t subsidize anything. It stifles creativity and sends all the effort towards the money.
To suggest that the internet wouldn’t have evolved without the government is ludicrous. Look at the massive amount of products that have been produced without the government’s help.
Government screws up everything it touches. Let the market decide.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
And by the way, government funding of education is responsible for the mush-head environmentalists (socialists) that got us into this mess in the first place.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Why don’t they just move the well and drill for oil somewhere else.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
[...] “Texas Oil Co. Will Recycle Offshore Oil Platforms for Wind Turbines”: CleanTechnica [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I think it’s a good idea. Tom – you can thank Congress & EPA + N.Polosie for that mess as that’s when the price rose from $2.65 to over $4.00+ in two years. The Presedent can’t do nothing unless congress approves – remember!!!!!!
We can’t drill offshore “they say”, but everyone else does. Oh yes — thats “OUR” shore. China is in the Gulf – just outside our limits making as big a mess as they want & the EPA can’t do nothing about it. But thats OK huh .
December 9th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
That example photo of the oil platform with a ‘radio tower’ on it is grossly under utilized, in regards to available locations for turbines…. why is that? I see only 4 turbines where the space available could support 3 times as many turbines along one side alone, and these towers have 4 sides. Maybe the towers that are used aren’t able to support the amount of turbines I proposed?