26 TWIST OF FATE FOR THE ‘EGG-BEATER’ Vertical-axis offshore turbine designs have long been overshadowed by their rapidly upscaling three-bladed brethren, but a $3.3m US project aims to spur a supersized reversal of fortune for the concept, writes Darius Snieckusprogramme to devise an “extreme scale” rotor fora SOMW ofthore turbine is "bucking the tend st the right ime’ “Floating wind is coming of age. ARPA E, within its new progeamme, saw many differentiating ‘opportunities inthe argument we Ihave made for developing our ultra large-scale vertical aie concept stablity operability, optimisable design. Allinherenly true, to my ‘min says Gift, "And that it could bea technology that has the potential to significantly lower LCOE [levelised coet of energy] ‘of deep-ocean wind, whichis where ‘we have to go in the US if we ae to use this source of offshore energy to its full potential ‘Many ingredients have come together recently — control technology, mooring technology. new ‘thinking on platforms — and we are in a position where have avery good knowledge-base and grest deal of ‘experience from our pri lating VAWT R&D, and have a good set of Aesign tools” he says. “We ean optimise and integrate wee these technologies while Bringing in new innovatins. And in doing 0 we achieve a dramatic LCOE reduction, Rea true eystemlevel engineering problem” ‘The concept in early-stage engineering at UT Dallas now sz part ofthe $8.3m project wil feature an oblong, vertically bladed rotor some 250 mites (700 fet) in eight either a so-called Darrius or shaped profile, fitted witha direct drive transmision set atop a seabed: tendoned steel tension leg platform, designed for waters 100-500 metres deep. At fll-scle Grit team think the concept. dubbed FloxtVAW'L chould be able to generate at under $75/MWh, a sizable provement on floating wind’s COE today. ‘he plo floating wind. currently in development of Portugal, the UK and France are ‘being underviten by governments ata high price — Pars is paying an eye watering $265/MWh forts ssden arrays But the fledgling ‘ector i striving to bringing ie ow ILCOE down to alevel on par with conventional bottom fixed projects, now under S70/MWh, a ist wit scale floating plants pass down economies of sae othe developers and their supply chain in the 2020s Grdith says the “sale-up / cost-out potential is huge” for verical-axie Aoating designs. "Fundamentally, ‘AWTS ofe big potential in this regard, not least because all the heavy ‘component are in the bate ofthe ‘ust on the platform, andas you ‘upscale the machine, that machinery slays where itis — thishasa positive {impact on stability ofcourse bu also ‘on operability ton a8 acces othe rive train would be easier than with ‘ three-bladed horizontal ais designe ‘where the componentry is housed fn the nacelle igh sbove the sea" be sys “And because the blades are fixed top and bottom rather than from the root-end to alaub, they can be much less expensive as there is none of the rotor-loading that conventional imachines see — and no need for pitch control as the omnidiectionality just oes ts thing’ The range between 12-15MW is where we see asieet spot to reach ‘our targeted LCOB: he says, "but we could explore larger rotors ifwe found Sonos pave Rrenderag ot fnachines Above Proje eae Tous east RECHARGE |04|20 27# CHALLENGED: ‘Fhe aw Fol, the words tse Larne (AW 3d metros otouebee n demo 9 loca Reeaateeeee eee es “Texas in 1988 and 8 during the projet timeline] thatthe economics looked to warrant it” Gilt say the arabition ito build an “industry dvicors bard” made up of OEMs, contractors and suppliers {o “join in and see what we are doing ‘on this project’ so that by 2022, when design stage ends, there would be potential to partner on prototyping the concept at ikely around 1:5 scale” sn open sea, before commercialising it "Technology to-market isa major hrust of this project he sid, noting tha a lagship could be ready for ployment "az ear a 2028 The FloxtVAWT wil be designed for Get installation in US deep waters here the National Renewable Energy Taboratory estimates some 5886 ofthe countrys total 2TW offshore wind resoutce potential — equal to twice the patios current electricity use — les. ‘ll eyee are on California, where a frt development auction could happen as early as thi year, but the US Bureau of Ocean Energy ‘Management (BOEM). which oversees industrial development for most of US waters, is advancing plane for a “white paper” to look tthe prospects for deeper wate Sevelopments off the country's northeast coastline, where the BOEM. thinks there i “definite potential” for Aoatng wind. "To grow wind-energy capacity. weve got to make full Ue of whats available to us over water” says GGriith, “The future will require growth of wind-energy capacity both fon land and feom the ocean, especially tn regions that are close to large population centers, such as New York Houston and other, “the US Paci i the big rst market for us, of cours. But whale ‘conventional ofshore wind works 8 good-waye out off he Alsniie seaboard, there ate good 'loating ‘opportunities there too” he notes. rom the 1970:-19906, the D bad a major programme in onshore \VAWT development, but the designs Aevized were all scuppered by Srsvtrains that couldnt cope with the loads created by turbulent winds courting overland ‘Pating the machines a sean a heavier, steadier wind stream — and with UT Dallas researchers using 2 “control co-design’ approach 0 engineering that will develop contol systems fashioned "to extract the most power with the lear exertion” ofthe forbine — Grit thinks the pieces nally all falling into place for tbeNT NEAR Arising from Atlantis Seg eeas eer eos coals Ce ee eee) pean een roe Rare Pia recedes technology “in the ight location at the ight ume “Hotinenta designs are cel great machine — wea etng enough FLOATING DEAS: power outof sng unt ow to Thecntwabrer owe thousands ef homes hich wate Vatu Equi unazing—battome this fs: allabout locaton. A VAWT isnot a song contender on land ori shallow ‘water ona fied base. But when we go todeep water, ther think VAWTs ae avery strong option. “For practical purposes we could install thowsands of gigawatts of Aoatng wind inthe $0500 metre ‘water depth range” Grifith say, referencing a study put out by the ‘Carnegie Institution for Science in 2017 that suggested deep-ocean wind ‘could one day supply ‘eviieation scale power “We need to build these machines very big — scale gets you efficiency. » But ultimately thie i alzo going to bbe in some big part abost speed of deployment having manufacturabiity built-in from day one through modularity of design, assembly aquayside, and installing i all, without the need ofa very expensive | installation vessel for thee lua Ageney forecasts, the role for a“vas “ange trbinee in deepwater. These highly optimiced” Hosting wind feet certainly makes difrence specially © arekey dements diving ourdesign willbe imperative othe future forage coastal conurbations and | approach Blobal energy system: says Getih, manufacturing bases along the US "With the cimate iss escalating "Avan engineer this isa incredible West and Bast coasts — aa eaving and/best estimates ofthe ottom- problem ta work and more cout the US Gul which i aleady wel- ‘Exedbuld-out by 2050 being limited importantly tie an opportunity _—_etabluhed in manséactaring — and around 1TW according the forasmall group of researchers to __moregeneraly for helping speed up International Renewable Energy develop a technology that could the energy transition globally" @