Howland hopes his research will promote “changing the design of wind farms from the beginning of the process.” Howland’s work modeling turbulence in the atmosphere and wind speeds has demonstrated that angling turbines by just a small amount relative to each other can increase power production significantly for offshore installations, dramatically improving their efficiencies. Edgerton Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. ![]() To extract the maximum power from individual turbines, developers must take into account the aerodynamics among turbines in a single wind farm and between adjacent wind farms, according to Michael Howland, the Esther and Harold E. Relatively inexpensive components such as polyester mooring lines and composite materials “can mitigate the impact of high waves and big, big wind loads.” Sclavounos described systems used in the oil industry for tethering giant, buoyant rigs to the ocean floor that could be adapted for wind platforms. “When you design a floating structure, you have to prepare for the worst possible conditions,” said Paul Sclavounos, a professor of mechanical engineering and naval architecture who is developing turbines that can withstand severe storms that batter turbine blades and towers with thousands of tons of wind force. MIT scientists described how they are tackling a number of these problems. To harness the power of wind farms spread over hundreds of nautical miles in deep water, Stoner said, researchers must first address some serious issues, including building and maintaining these massive rigs in harsh environments, laying out wind farms to optimize generation, and creating reliable and socially acceptable connections to the onshore grid. An onshore turbine generates approximately 3 megawatts offshore structures can each produce 15 to 17 megawatts, with blades the length of a football field and heights greater than the Washington Monument. “You can make these machines huge, creating substantial economies of scale,” said Stoner. Turbines sited in deeper, offshore waters gain the advantage of higher-velocity winds. “We have a high degree of geographic coincidence between where that wind capacity is and where most of us are, and it’s complementary to solar,” he said. Moderating a panel on MIT research that is moving the industry forward, Robert Stoner, MITEI’s deputy director for science and technology, provided context for the audience about the industry. In sessions devoted to technology, deployment and integration, policy, and regulation, participants framed the issues critical to the development of offshore wind, described threats to its rapid rollout, and offered potential paths for breaking through gridlock. Armstrong, MITEI director and the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering, in his introduction to the event. “There’s a lot of work to do to figure out how to use this resource economically - and sooner rather than later,” said Robert C. The White House is aiming for 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 - enough to power 10 million homes.Īt the MIT Energy Initiative’s Spring Symposium, academic experts, energy analysts, wind developers, government officials, and utility representatives explored the immense opportunities and formidable challenges of tapping this titanic resource, both in the United States and elsewhere in the world. It’s no wonder the Biden administration views this immense, clean-energy resource as central to its ambitious climate goals of 100 percent carbon-emissions-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. ![]() Capturing energy from the winds gusting off the coasts of the United States could more than double the nation’s electricity generation.
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