NORWAY LAUNCHES WORLD-1ST FLOATING WIND

Floating wind turbine launched
Jorn Madslien, 5 June 2009 (BBC News)

"The world's first floating wind turbine is to be towed out to sea this weekend… Statoil's Alexandra Beck Gjorv told the BBC the technology, the Hywind, [is] to be put off Norway's coast…[I]t could lead to offshore wind farms eventually being located many miles offshore, away from areas where they cause…[aesthetic objections or disrupt] military radar operations, the shipping industry, fisheries, bird life and tourism…

"The Hywind, a 2.3 megawatt (MW) wind turbine built by Siemens, combines technologies from both the wind farming industry and the oil and gas sectors, and will be tested off the coast of Norway for two years."

click thru for a presentation about floating offshore wind

"In a similar way to how large parts of icebergs are hidden below the sea surface, the turbine has a 100 metre draft that is anchored to the seabed with cables, that can be up to 700 metres long."

click thru for a presentation about floating offshore wind

"Offshore wind farms cost considerably more than wind farms on land, and initially floating ones will be more expensive than static offshore installations…[But in time] the floating turbines should not cost more than fixed ones.

"Statoil plans to target markets where there is both an ability to pay as well as large and growing demand for energy…Floating wind farms could later be established off both coasts of North America… off the Iberian peninsula… the coasts of Norway… the United Kingdom…[and] could provide an additional source of energy for countries that have run out of space for their onshore wind farms, or where there is not enough wind on land…"