NYT: Something New May Be Rising Off California Coast: Wind Farms

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/business/energy-environment/california-coast-wind-farms.html

Deepwater, floating anchored turbines.

GRA said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/business/energy-environment/california-coast-wind-farms.html

Deepwater, floating anchored turbines.

Click to expand...

Guy,

Both Walt Musial and Henrik Stiesdal know their stuff, Reicher not so much. Six years might be optimistic. There have been proposals for at least 5 years, possibly more and nothing has happened yet.

Paul

^^^ Good to know. Wind was never really my thing, I was more into PV and the occasional micro-hydro system as they suited most of our customers better and installation was generally a lot easier, so I haven't followed wind developments as closely as other areas. This was the first I'd heard about floating off-shore wind. I was surprised by the claim in the article that costs should be similar to fixed platforms. I do have to wonder about reliability, though - I don't know how much such platforms move, but I'd think that would add considerably to uneven forces on the blades and hubs, not to mention the possible un-tethering of a platform (I'd hope they'd be designed to sink if that happens), and offshore wind is already operating in a very corrosive environment.

As for timing, this is California. You know as well as I that everyone can and most of them will stick their oar in before a major project gets approved, let alone completed. Not complaining about all the governmental, environmental, business, Nimby and other groups that will have some complaint or other, just saying.