WIND TURBINES CAN SAIL THE SEAS

Why not floating windmills?; Hart H.S. grad believes they’re the future … His company is working on the technology
Kevin Braciszesski, January 23, 2010 (Ludington Daily News)

"Larry Viterna, Ph.D., worked on wind energy development for many years with NASA and is now working on plans for wind turbines that will float far from shore…

"…[Viterna is strongly in favor of] the current proposal to place wind turbines in Lake Michigan as close as two miles from Silver Lake State Park, where his father, Roy Viterna, worked as park manager from 1967 to 1981…[He thinks offshore wind on the Great Lakes can be very beneficial…[but would like to the wind turbines] 15 to 20 miles off shore…"

Animated simulation of setting an offshore turbine afloat. From lviterna via YouTube

"Viterna said winds are higher farther from shore and said the 300- to 450-foot-tall wind turbines would not be as noticeable from shore…His company, Nautica Windpower, is currently working to develop technology for floating wind turbines that can operate in deep waters far from shore.

"With current technology, Viterna said, it is too expensive to place wind turbines too far from shore and in deep water…[F]loating wind turbines, possibly attached by weights to the lake bottom, need to be developed with less weight to be economically competitive…[H]e expects demand for energy to drive that development."

The Great Lakes' offshore wind assets are among the best in the world. (click to enlarge)

"Viterna also said other Great Lakes communities are now considering installing offshore wind turbines…Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are working on the issue together…New York and Canada are also considering wind turbines in the Great Lakes…The current plan for Michigan’s Lake Michigan waters was proposed by representatives of Scandia Wind and Havgul Clean Energy. It calls for construction of about 100 to 200 wind towers in a 100-square-mile area of Lake Michigan offshore from southern Mason County and northern Oceana County.

"The developers are planning to start their wind turbines only 3.7 miles off the Mason County shore and less than 2 miles off part of Oceana County…Viterna said there is a lot of benefit to moving to wind as a clean energy source, but said it does not have to be intrusive…He believes the Scandia and Havgul representatives are doing the right thing by providing the public with information about their plans."