Not quite sure of the current state of things but Triton Knoll, Hornsea 2, and Moray East are all due to come online this year. Representing an additional 3.2 GW of capacity.
To put that in to context only 1.21 GW is required to go Back to the Future.
now think of a sailing yacht in high winds & how it heels (leans) away from the wind, this despite having a considerable ballast in an extended keel to counter the force on the sail/mast - this leaning results in air spilling from the sail, thus massively decreasing efficiency. To maintain efficiency the turbine tower needs to be kept upright, however,
With a yacht you try and prevent inefficient heeling by reducing sail, change your heading or in the short term in races getting the crew up on the windward rail. What would be the equivalent for a wind turbine - heavy feathering of the blades I would imagine?
But there's no doubting your point that it's a difficult environment to work in, and I wouldn't fancy doing a service at the top in even a flat calm let alone a stiff breeze!
on the widely-telegraphed windfall tax on energy companies:
Proposals to tax income from other electricity producers such as some
older windfarms and nuclear plants which have also seen windfall gains
have been shelved.
My Greencoat shares might be okay, then!
N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Go elec & Tracker gas / Voda BB / Virgin mobi. 2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 27MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
now think of a sailing yacht in high winds & how it heels (leans) away from the wind, this despite having a considerable ballast in an extended keel to counter the force on the sail/mast - this leaning results in air spilling from the sail, thus massively decreasing efficiency. To maintain efficiency the turbine tower needs to be kept upright, however,
With a yacht you try and prevent inefficient heeling by reducing sail, change your heading or in the short term in races getting the crew up on the windward rail. What would be the equivalent for a wind turbine - heavy feathering of the blades I would imagine?
But there's no doubting your point that it's a difficult environment to work in, and I wouldn't fancy doing a service at the top in even a flat calm let alone a stiff breeze!
I appreciate feathering is a different thing, but that's reminded me of an article on a floating WT design I posted a year or so ago, but can't now find. The design has the blades upwind of the nacelle and tower, so flexing doesn't carry the risk of hitting the tower.
I also seem to remember a design where the tower sloped forward to help with dissipating forces, but again, can't find it.
Can't find anything on MSE with the search function these days.
Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)
now think of a sailing yacht in high winds & how it heels (leans) away from the wind, this despite having a considerable ballast in an extended keel to counter the force on the sail/mast - this leaning results in air spilling from the sail, thus massively decreasing efficiency. To maintain efficiency the turbine tower needs to be kept upright, however,
With a yacht you try and prevent inefficient heeling by reducing sail, change your heading or in the short term in races getting the crew up on the windward rail. What would be the equivalent for a wind turbine - heavy feathering of the blades I would imagine?
But there's no doubting your point that it's a difficult environment to work in, and I wouldn't fancy doing a service at the top in even a flat calm let alone a stiff breeze!
I guess in the end all that 'heel' is effectively 'spill' and perhaps happens when the wind is strongest and the value of the output is lowest. SO perhaps the economics still works even if the total output is somewhat lower than would be achieved if there was zero spill?
now think of a sailing yacht in high winds & how it heels (leans) away from the wind, this despite having a considerable ballast in an extended keel to counter the force on the sail/mast - this leaning results in air spilling from the sail, thus massively decreasing efficiency. To maintain efficiency the turbine tower needs to be kept upright, however,
With a yacht you try and prevent inefficient heeling by reducing sail, change your heading or in the short term in races getting the crew up on the windward rail. What would be the equivalent for a wind turbine - heavy feathering of the blades I would imagine?
But there's no doubting your point that it's a difficult environment to work in, and I wouldn't fancy doing a service at the top in even a flat calm let alone a stiff breeze!
Hi
The example was simply to illustrate that even though the force on the mast/sail above the waterline is counterbalanced by the heavily ballasted keel, the inherent reaction is for the vessel to rotate around a fulcrum at the waterline (heel) and that to mitigate this in turbines there are a number of solutions .. increase the draught to a necessary proportion of total height and load with keel ballast, build inherently more stable shallow(ish) keel structures with relatively lightweight seabed anchors or have shallower draught ballasted keels and strongly anchor to the seabed under tension.
If going to the extreme on the comparison, we should consider that the force exerted on the sail is heavily skewed towards the bottom of the mast (~triangular sail) to avoid gross instability and a tendency to capsize, whilst in the case of a turbine it's pretty much all concentrated at the top ... in order to keep the turbine vertical even in lighter conditions, the tower base shear forces to be transferred through to whatever balancing solution chosen must be (by design) huge to avoid the turbines simply giving up & 'turning turtle', that's why design solutions, predictive failure & monitoring becomes important.
HTH - Z ...
"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
Not the article I was thinking of, but this downwind WT with a sloped tower is pretty much what I'm recalling. Isn't it incredible how fast the technology is advancing, and the solutions, or test solutions are coming out. Like Z, I'm finding all of this fascinating, and so, so exciting.
Fitted with a specially adapted V29 Vestas turbine, the unique ‘downwind’ system is able to ‘weathervane’ and orientate passively with the wind to maximise energy yields, the Barcelona-based start-up said.
I'm also a big fan of 'Engineering with Rosie' and this episode actually looks at the issue of how blades hitting a tower is addressed. One of the solutions (near the start, around 2min mark) is the downwind turbine.
So looks like a lot of personal money, in pension funds, is at risk, with the US and UK taking big hits. Nothing technically new here in the risks, but I find it incredible that 'we' are still so exposed, despite the financial risks bing so well known, and for so long.
Individuals in rich countries face huge financial losses if climate action slashes the value of fossil fuel assets, a study shows, despite many oil and gas fields being in other countries.
The researchers estimated that existing oil and gas projects worth $1.4tn (£1.1tn) would lose their value if the world moved decisively to cut carbon emissions and limit global heating to 2C. By tracking many thousands of projects through 1.8m companies to their ultimate owners, the team found most of the losses would be borne by individual people through their pensions, investment funds and share holdings.
Overall, the study calculated that individuals own 54% of the $1.4tn oil and gas assets at risk – $756bn. Three-quarters of these people are in the 38 developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group. Governments and corporate creditors carry the balance.
But the proportion is much higher in the US and UK, where individuals own 86% and 75% of the potentially stranded assets respectively. In contrast, 80% of those assets in China are owned by the government.
Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)
Always nice to see any moves or confirmation of targets. Leccy is the easy one, so to speak, but hopefully with the positive talk about BEV's and heatpumps, plus green hydrogen for industrial processes, then the step one move to cleaner leccy, will flow through to all sectors.
Energy, Climate and Environment Ministers from across G7 countries have committed to “predominantly” decarbonise their electricity sectors by 2035.
The communique published today said the goal is “consistent with our 2030 NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), our power sector transition commitments and our respective net zero commitments, concrete and timely steps towards the goal of an eventual phase-out of domestic unabated coal power generation”.
Think tank E3G senior advisor Pieter de Pous said: “Committing to a decarbonised power sector by 2035, even ‘predominantly’, is an important signal that G7 countries are aligning their power sector transition to the IEA’s scenario for achieving the 1.5 degree.
Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)
I notice that today at 1330 we were importing around 5GW of energy. That seems unusually high to me and I was wondering if that co-incided with excess solar in Europe as it seems to track the solar generation here.
Replies
My Greencoat shares might be okay, then!
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 27MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
I also seem to remember a design where the tower sloped forward to help with dissipating forces, but again, can't find it.
Can't find anything on MSE with the search function these days.
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
Downwind Floating Prototype Ready to Deploy
I'm also a big fan of 'Engineering with Rosie' and this episode actually looks at the issue of how blades hitting a tower is addressed. One of the solutions (near the start, around 2min mark) is the downwind turbine.
Wind Turbine Design to Prevent Blades Hitting the Tower
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
Perhaps worthy of support?
but it appears to be too old / closed.
So looks like a lot of personal money, in pension funds, is at risk, with the US and UK taking big hits. Nothing technically new here in the risks, but I find it incredible that 'we' are still so exposed, despite the financial risks bing so well known, and for so long.
People in US and UK face huge financial hit if fossil fuels lose value, study shows
The researchers estimated that existing oil and gas projects worth $1.4tn (£1.1tn) would lose their value if the world moved decisively to cut carbon emissions and limit global heating to 2C. By tracking many thousands of projects through 1.8m companies to their ultimate owners, the team found most of the losses would be borne by individual people through their pensions, investment funds and share holdings.
But the proportion is much higher in the US and UK, where individuals own 86% and 75% of the potentially stranded assets respectively. In contrast, 80% of those assets in China are owned by the government.
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
G7 to 'predominantly' decarbonise power sectors by 2035
The communique published today said the goal is “consistent with our 2030 NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), our power sector transition commitments and our respective net zero commitments, concrete and timely steps towards the goal of an eventual phase-out of domestic unabated coal power generation”.
Think tank E3G senior advisor Pieter de Pous said: “Committing to a decarbonised power sector by 2035, even ‘predominantly’, is an important signal that G7 countries are aligning their power sector transition to the IEA’s scenario for achieving the 1.5 degree.
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.