1. Ocean Renewable Energy:
Offshore Wind, Wave & Tidal Power
The Washington State Ocean Energy Conference:
Deep Water Wind and Ocean Energy Economy
Bremerton, Washington
November 8 & 9, 2011
Presented by
Robert Thresher, NREL Research Fellow
National Wind Technology Center
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC
2. Energy sources in the United States in 2009
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3. Most U.S. Offshore Wind Resource is in Deep Water
GW by Depth (m)
Region 0 - 30 30 - 60 > 60
New England 100.2 136.2 250.4
Mid Atlantic 298.1 179.1 92.5
S. Atlantic Bight 134.1 48.8 7.7
California 4.4 10.5 573.0
Pacific Northw est 15.1 21.3 305.3
Great Lakes 176.7 106.4 459.4
Gulf of Mexico 340.3 120.1 133.3
Haw aii 2.3 5.5 629.6
Total 1,071.2 628.0 2,451.1
Assumptions:
5 MW/km2
7 m/s and greater
0-50nm for shore
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4. Wind Technology Evolution
• Land Based Technology > 2 MW; Turbine 50% Total Installation Cost
• Offshore Technology > 5 MW; Turbine 25% Total Installation Cost
• Land Based Turbine Size Constrained by Highway Transport
• Turbine Stiffness & Dynamic Coupling Driving Design Innovation
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5. Future Research on Offshore Wind Technology
Land-based Shallow Water Transitional Depth Deepwater Floating
Technology Technology Technology Technology
Offshore Wind
Technology
Current
Development
Technology
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6. Shallow Water Bottom Mounted:
GE project at Arklow Banks in the Irish Sea
Photo: R. Thresher
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7. Principle Power 2-MW Demonstration
Characteristics
Country/Sponsor: Portugal
Major Partners: Vestas, EDP
Turbine Size/Description: Vestas V-80, 2 MW
wind turbine
Deployment date : September 2011
Platform Type: Three – tank
semisubmersible – 6
line mooring
Site: Aguçadoura, Portugal
Water Depth 40 to 50-m
Approximate Budget: $ 25M USD
Opportunities: The PPI WindFloat semi-submersible wind system is scheduled for installation
and commissioning off the Portuguese coast in Sept 2011. The installation includes a grid-
connected Vestas V80 2-MW wind turbine. Testing for at least 12 months is planned and will
focus on performance validation. An EU Framework 7 award increased their testing capability.
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8. NREL Dynamic Simulation Tool: HydroDyn
Dynamic Analysis of Wind and Wave Interactions is an
Important Technical Challenge for Floating Turbine Designs
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9. Visualization of Avian Interaction Zones
Windfarm Flight Zone
Over-flight
Fatality Risk
Strike Zone
Fly-thru
Rotor Zone
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10. Avian Strike Probability Versus Turbine Size
Altamont Scale
Next Generation Scale
93 Meter Diameter and 2.5MW
15 Meter Diameter and 100 kW
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11. Three Basic Forms of Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) Energy
CURRENTS
• Activating force flows in same direction for at least a few
hours
• Tidal, river, and ocean variants
• Conversion technology is some sort of submerged turbine
WAVES
• Activating force reverses direction every 5 to 20 seconds
• Conversion technology can be floating or submerged, with
a wide variety of devices still being invented and developed
OCEAN THERMAL
• A heat engine operating on the temperature difference
between hot surface water and cool water at 1000 meters.
• Several possible thermodynamic cycles
• Conversion technology is on a floating platform with a long
pipe to deep water
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12. The Many Wave Energy Technologies
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13. The Several Tidal, River and Ocean Current Technologies
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14. Minnesota – Economic Impacts
from 1000 MW of new wind development
Wind energy’s economic “ripple effect”
Direct Impacts Indirect & Totals
Induced Impacts (construction + 20yrs)
Payments to Landowners:
• $2.7 million/year
Construction Phase: Total economic benefit =
Local Property Tax Revenue: • 1530 new jobs $1.1 billion
• $2.8 million/year • $150.6 M to local New local jobs during
Construction Phase:
economies construction = 2985
• 1455 new jobs
Operational Phase:
• $188.5 M to local economies New local long-term jobs
Operational Phase: • 177 local jobs
• 232 new long-term jobs • $18.2 M/yr to local = 409
• $21.2 M/yr to local economies economies
Construction Phase = 1-2 years
Operational Phase = 20+ years
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15. Questions?
Photo courtesy of Oceanenergy
Robert Thresher, NREL Research Fellow
Robert.Thresher@nrel.gov
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Editor's Notes
One can see the depth of the various coasts in this bathymetry map. The chart in the middle shows the amount of wind resource available based on the water depth. The largest available resource is in deeper waters, greater than 60 m, which are found off the west coast and northern atlantic. Therefore, in the United States, there is a lot of interest in researching floating wind turbine options for offshore. The assumptions used to calculate this resource are shown here.
Turbine size has grown almost linearly with timeBifurcation between offshore and land based systemsOffshore cost of foundation drives development to larger sizesOnshore transportation costs in special permitting beginning to limit sizeLarger & Dynamically Soft – designs now require active control and consideration of non-linear effects including coupling with inflow loading
