Floating Wind Swells, Hydrogen On A High And Here Comes The 150-Hour ‘Aqueous Air’ Battery
The title of this post is the same as that of this weekly summary on Recharge.
There are three major stories.
Floating Wind Turbines
A lot more floating wind turbines are under development, by the French, Swedes, South Africans and Japanese.
I do wonder, if these structures have borrowed the work done in Cambridge by Balaena Structures, for which I did the calculations, as I wrote about in The Balaena Lives.
From what I remember of my calculations fifty years ago, I suspect these floating turbines can be massive and places, in areas, where the winds are really strong.
I also believe that some could have built-in hydrogen generators and could be placed over depleted gas fields and connected to the existing gas pipes.
Hydrogen
The article describes how oil giants; BP and Shell are moving towards hydrogen.
Battery Storage
They also talk about Form Energy and their mysterious ‘aqueous air battery, which Recharge covered earlier. I discussed that article in The Mysterious 150-hour Battery That Can Guarantee Renewables Output During Extreme Weather.
Conclusion
This article is a must-read.
Recharge is also a site to follow, if you are interested in the developments in renewable energy.
Scotland’s Floating Wind Farm
This article on the BBC is entitled World’s first floating wind farm emerges off coast of Scotland.
In the early 1970s, I worked on a unique concept for a reusable oil platform called a Balaena.
I wrote about using a Balaena for a wind turbine in Could a Balaena-Like Structure Be Used As a Wind Power Platform?.
There is also a brief description of the idea in The Balaena Lives.
I have a strong feeling that revisiting all of the work done for a Balaena over forty years ago, could enable a better way to build a floating wind farm.
I would build my Baleana-based floating wind-power turbine like this.
- A steel cylinder is built, which will form the tower, horizontally in a dry dock.
- It is floated out horizontally to some very deep water perhaps in a fjord.
- It is then raised to a vertical position by letting a calculated amount of sea water into the tank.
- It will float vertically, if the weight profile is right and by adjusting water levels in the tank, the top can be raised on lowered.
- The tower is adjusted to a convenient height and the turbine is placed on the top.
- It would then be towed vertically into position.
Note that Balaenas were designed to sit on the sea-bed using a skirt and a gum-boot principle to hold them to the bottom, with extra anchors and steel ropes.
The Anonymous Widower 