Modern technology is converting the seemingly impossible to possibility.
It is difficult to imagine a wind turbine floating in the ocean.
Wind turbines are magnificent structures which tower higher than the world’s tallest buildings. They are generally static and grounded with a massive supporting structure under waters.
The revolutionary technology allows wind power to be harvested in waters too deep for the current conventional bottom-standing turbines.
The first floating wind turbine has been placed about 20 km (12 miles) off the coast of Peterhead in Scotland. Another four turbines will be added to the farm, which together will generate up to 30 megawatts of energy, enough to power 20,000 households.
Each turbine is 175m tall and weighs over 11,000 tonnes.
The £190 million ($250 million) project is being financed by the UK government’s renewable-energy plan.
Though they are currently expensive to make, hopefully in the future it would come at a reduced cost as it is a great source of energy.
If the technology becomes cheaper, it will open up parts of the ocean previously considered too deep for stationary turbines.
Successfully creating a floating wind turbine is not only a huge accomplishment in engineering but it also has the potential to revolutionise energy creation through wind power.
Unlike conventional wind turbines that are built directly into the seabed, a floating wind turbine can unlock huge swathes of ocean that had previously been considered unusable for wind power.
Also, floating turbines are not attached to the seabed by foundations. Rather, they are attached by long mooring tethers, allowing them to be placed in water as deep as one kilometre.
The company behind this technology is Statoil located in Norway.
They have been perfecting their design since 2009.
Scotland is already proving that wind power can be a hugely effective energy source after it was revealed that for a single day in August 2016 Scotland was entirely powered by wind.
We hope Nigeria adopts this new technology as it is a great way of producing energy without polluting the environment.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/go-green-introducing-worlds-first-floating-wind-energy-muqbil-ahmar