Comments on: Offshore Wind: the 21st Century Frontier

By: Precious Metals from Nautilus Minerals: a New Frontier - CleanTechnica

Precious Metals from Nautilus Minerals: a New Frontier - CleanTechnica — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:16:26 +0000

[…] the subject, at least initially. Instead, I thought back to something that was said at the recent Boston Wind Power Conference: that offshore wind would test the environment and regulations in a largely unexplored undersea […]

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:36:00 +0000

Thanks for stopping by, Chris. We just wrote about that new turbine last week — updated the post.

By: Breath on the Wind

Breath on the Wind — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:02:00 +0000

Thankjs for taking the time to look at the article and share your knowledge. Certainly onshore wind is prefered as it is less costly to install. But when we find ourselves up against a NIMBY argument or rights of way issues offshore can look more attractive. At that time, we may also justify the additional expense by noting offshore winds are more constant, stronger with less turbulance, and due to transportation issues larger more efficient turbines can be used. These are the factors that add up to an increased capacity factor for offshore wind.

So how does a new technology (wind turbine) increase the capacity factor for land based wind energy? Is there some reason a similar technology could not be applied offshore to again create an imbalance favoring offshore?

By: Crescent Varrone

Crescent Varrone — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:56:00 +0000

The figures you give on capacity factor are a few years out of date. The 30% NCP we saw in the 2000s is now replaced with nearly 50% in many cases for GE 1.6MW-100 and similar machines. This gives Offshore more competition, esp given lower risk of onshore.