Looking at the designs presented for floating oceanic wind turbine bases shows, that there is a need to have as much stability as possible, while
moving in response to wave action and tides.
By default, all power generating equipment is 100% duty cycle , 24/7/365. For fixed land based machines the various loads and environmental wear
conditions are more or less predictable. Marine instalations on the other hand, are notorious for destroying anything and everything, very especialy
anything with moving parts, due to all of the land based factors, plus operating on an unpredictable moving platform.
Total failure of the entire structure can be initiated by the failure of any one of many bearings/joints where movement between components takes place,deep underwater.
Inspection becomes a challenge and service at sea impossible.
The many failures of underwater tidal generators
bears testimony to the dificulties and challenges.
The full study pdf is fascinating (Trends in floating offshore wind platforms: A review 2024)
What your take on offshore floating PV. Setting aside the issue of power transmission (which can be 30% of the capex!) these are passive more forgiving structures? Can they last 10-20 years?
fixed base instalations in water, can fare better
than land based, becuase the wind is steadier and turbulence tends to be much less, leading to lower
stress/wear
Perhaps integrated into fish farms, where they need power, almost always prefer cooler water, and have been site selected for calmer waters, have industrial permiting, in place, wharfs, trucks,tugs,etc.Aquavoltaics.
In warmer areas, surface encrustation will happen instanty, salt water on hot pannels will
get top coated with avian deposits.
Perhaps semi-submergerd pannels laying flat in calm equatorial seas could work well, but the markets and best locations will not line up, which
brings us back to transmission lines.
Like all solar PV installations, there are many
variables to consider and factor in correctly when
going for grid scale.And adding moving mechanical components to what is otherwise an inert, solid state device is a whole other animal than a fixed
ground/building mounted system.
I wonder why you wouldn't deploy a spar horizontally, filled with dry ballast powder evenly along it's length, then tip it vertical once in position and pump in water to set the ballast. This seems an obvious approach, allowing use of a shallow dock ,so there must be some issue with it
my gut instinct suggests that the ballast powder would shift about while being towed and cause unexpected motion, especially if it's hinged at one end. You might end up with it self-deploying with a runaway effect if enough of the weight moved to the loose end
Yeah, that gave me the idea. The use case is slightly different: flip wants needs to be re-oriented repeatedly, whereas the spar would benefit if its ballast would remain in place without maintenance.
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[ 1.3 ms ] story [ 43.3 ms ] threadBy default, all power generating equipment is 100% duty cycle , 24/7/365. For fixed land based machines the various loads and environmental wear conditions are more or less predictable. Marine instalations on the other hand, are notorious for destroying anything and everything, very especialy anything with moving parts, due to all of the land based factors, plus operating on an unpredictable moving platform. Total failure of the entire structure can be initiated by the failure of any one of many bearings/joints where movement between components takes place,deep underwater. Inspection becomes a challenge and service at sea impossible. The many failures of underwater tidal generators bears testimony to the dificulties and challenges.
What your take on offshore floating PV. Setting aside the issue of power transmission (which can be 30% of the capex!) these are passive more forgiving structures? Can they last 10-20 years?
Fun to speculate about, but no doubt there's a problem with that too!
https://www.fastcompany.com/90955725/this-floating-wind-turb...