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‘This is the future’: why turbines that float could be the new wave in British wind power

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/24/this-is-the-future-why-turbines-that-float-could-be-the-new-wave-in-british-wind-power

Britain is a world leader in fixed coastal installations. But in the deep open sea, where wind speeds are higher, a new generation of farms will be required

4 comments

ThePyroPython

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Yes it is the future!

Like holy shit we could work a deal with the Republic of Ireland and Norway to float so many of these things we could be energy positive (i.e. exporting energy most of the time to Europe via grid interconnects) AND export green hydrogen!!!

Wanderer

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I can't wait for the template for floating offshore to be established and the economies of scale to kick in. You could have a huge moving production like factory that ends with them dumping them in the ocean for transport. Similar to how size of solar plants exploded.

Bet China is going to be the first to build insanely large floating offshore wind factories.

"Britain’s ports are too small and under-resourced to accommodate the huge dimensions of the turbines and floating foundations required to meet the government’s ambitions."

"Earlier this month, the crown estate, which owns rights to the seabed off the British coast, invited pre-qualified developers to set out their plans to deliver three floating offshore windfarms in the Celtic Sea"

So they building in the Celtic sea and need to build ports suitable for the massive expansion. Milford Haven has one of the deepest harbours in the world and a lot of grow is needed and there is a lot of space there. Somehow I got a feeling there will be no investment there because that would involve the government investing in Wales.

Ummdustry

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My bet would be Japan, floating offshore makes most sense in deep water, which is all Japan has, whilst china still has a lot of better and more accessable wind reasources.

Wanderer

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Yea but China do the big factories better.

Also you could float a wind turbine from China to Japan relatively easily.