Why doesn’t the United States have offshore wind farms? A multi-criteria decision analysis of European wind farm common attributes and potential U.S. sites

2013 ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Michael Noble ◽  
Patrick T. Hester
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Analysis

Offshore Wind Energy and the Mid-Atlantic Cold Pool: A Review of Potential Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-87
Author(s):  
Travis Miles ◽  
Sarah Murphy ◽  
Josh Kohut ◽  
Sarah Borsetti ◽  
Daphne Munroe
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Vertical Mixing ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Seasonal Thermocline

Abstract The U.S. East Coast has 1.7 million acres of federal bottom under lease for the development of wind energy installations, with plans for more than 1,500 foundations to be placed. The scale of these wind farms has the potential to alter the unique and delicate oceanographic conditions along the expansive Atlantic continental shelf, a region characterized by a strong seasonal thermocline that overlies cold bottom water, known as the “Cold Pool.” Strong seasonal stratification traps cold (typically less than 10°C) water above the ocean bottom sustaining a boreal fauna that represents vast fisheries, including the most lucrative shellfish fisheries in the United States. This paper reviews the existing literature and research pertaining to the ways in which offshore wind farms may alter processes that establish, maintain, and degrade stratification associated with the Cold Pool through vertical mixing in this seasonally dynamic system. Changes in stratification could have important consequences in Cold Pool setup and degradation, processes fundamental to high fishery productivity of the region. The potential for these multiple wind energy arrays to alter oceanographic processes and the biological systems that rely on them is possible; however, a great deal of uncertainty remains about the nature and scale of these interactions. Research should be prioritized that identifies stratification thresholds of influence, below which turbines and wind farm arrays may alter oceanographic processes. These should be examined within context of spatial and seasonal dynamics of the Cold Pool and offshore wind lease areas to identify potential areas of further study.

Validation of a Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport Modeling Framework for the Evaluation of Offshore Wind Farms

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 62-76
Author(s):  
Craig Jones ◽  
Grace Chang ◽  
Jason Magalen ◽  
Jesse Roberts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Ocean Waves ◽  
The United States ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms

AbstractDevelopment of alternative energy production in the United States continues at a rapid pace, with significant public and private investment in recent years. Offshore wind energy (herein referred to as offshore wind) has become a significant contributor to the global energy market, and the number of projects in the United States is rapidly increasing. As the technology continues to improve, the ability to deploy offshore wind turbines in deeper waters becomes increasingly feasible; however, differences in deployment environments bring unique challenges. To continue developing offshore wind as a viable renewable energy source, the United States must overcome three critical hurdles: (1) reduce the cost of generating offshore wind electricity, (2) accelerate the deployment and permitting process, and (3) integrate the new electrical source with the national grid. This work aims to help reduce time and costs associated with planning, development, and permitting by accurately predicting environmental responses to the presence of offshore wind arrays. We demonstrate that interactions between offshore wind infrastructure and the environment can be accurately assessed through a focused model development and validation process that considers the interrelationships between ocean waves, circulation, and seabed dynamics. Best practices are recommended to help guide future model development.

Potential Impacts from a Worst Case Discharge from an United States Offshore Wind Farm

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 869-877
Author(s):  
CDR Tim Gunter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
New England ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Worst Case

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this research is to explore potential environmental impacts of a worst case discharge (WCD) from an offshore commercial wind farm electric service platform (ESP) in the Northeast United States. Wind farms in the continental United States are a growing industry as an energy alternative to traditional oil, coal, and natural gas energy sources. While many offshore wind farms already exist in Europe and around the world, the Cape Wind Project in New England received the first federally approved lease for an offshore wind energy production facility in the United States. While offshore wind energy is a green source of energy, wind driven energy has its own set of environmental risks, including the risks of an oil spill. A systematic review of scholarly journals, federal government websites and other academic resources was conducted to identify previous spills in the Northeast with the closest match in volume and location to the Cape Wind Project. The oil spills from the barge North Cape in 1996 near Point Judith, Rhode Island and from the barge Florida in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, in 1996, had the most similarities to a potential WCD spill from the Cape Wind Project. Both of these spills adversely impacted the environment, and provide useful information that can be used for the planning efforts surrounding a WCD event from the Cape Wind Project.

Monitoring fisheries resources at offshore wind farms: BACI vs. BAG designs

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 890-900
Author(s):  
Elizabeth T Methratta
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Fisheries Resources ◽  
Unaffected Control ◽  
Before And After

Abstract Offshore wind farms often co-occur with biodiverse marine ecosystems with high ecological, economic, and cultural value. Yet there are many uncertainties about how wind farms affect marine organisms and their environment. The before–after–control–impact (BACI) design, an approach that compares an impact location with an unaffected control both before and after the intervention, is the most common method used to study how offshore wind farms affect finfish. Unfortunately, this design has several methodological limitations that undermine its ability to detect effects in these studies. An alternative approach, the before–after-gradient (BAG) design, would sample along a gradient with increasing distance from the turbines both before and after the intervention, and could overcome many of the limitations of BACI. The BAG design would eliminate the difficult task of finding a suitable control, allow for the assessment of the spatial scale and extent of wind farm effects, and improve statistical power by incorporating distance as an independent variable in analytical models rather than relegating it to the error term. This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of the BACI and BAG designs in the context of offshore wind development and suggests an approach to incorporating the BAG design into existing fisheries surveys and a regional monitoring framework.

scholarly journals Analysis of offshore wind farm located on Baltic Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 01049
Author(s):  
Anna Sobotka ◽  
Kajetan Chmielewski ◽  
Marcin Rowicki ◽  
Justyna Dudzińska ◽  
Przemysław Janiak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Wind Measurements ◽  
The Baltic

Poland is currently at the beginning of the energy transformation. Nowadays, most of the electricity generated in Poland comes from coal combustion. However, in accordance to the European Union policy of reducing the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, there are already plans to switch to low-emission energy sources in Poland, one of which are offshore wind farms. The article presents the current regulatory environment of the offshore wind energy in Poland, along with a reference to Polish and European decarbonisation plans. In the further part of the article, the methods of determining the kinetic energy of wind and the power curve of a wind turbine are discussed. Then, on the basis of historical data of wind speeds collected in the area of the Baltic Sea, calculations are carried out leading to obtain statistical distributions of power that could be generated by an exemplary wind farm with a power capacity of 400 MW, located at the place of wind measurements. On their basis, statistical differences in the wind power generation between years, months of the year and hours of the day are analysed.

A Study on the New Grid Integration Solutions of Offshore Wind Farms

2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 3610-3616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Yin Zhang ◽  
Zai Jun Wu ◽  
Si Peng Hao ◽  
Ke Xu
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Grid Integration ◽  
Variable Speed ◽  
Reliable Operation ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Electrical Interconnection ◽  
Investment Cost ◽  
And Performance

Offshore wind farm is developed in the ascendant currently. The reliable operation, power loss, investment cost and performance of wind farms were effect by the integration solutions of electrical interconnection system directly. Several new integration configurations based on VSC-HVDC were comparative analyzed. For the new HVDC topology applied the wind farm internal DC bus, the Variable Speed DC (VSDC) system that is suitable for those topologies was proposed. The structure of VSDC was discussed and maximum wind power tracking was simulated on the minimal system. It is clear that new integration configurations based on VSC-HVDC has good prospects.

Optimization of O&M for Offshore Wind Farms Modelling for WMTC Conferences

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Nivet ◽  
Ema Muk-Pavic
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Operation Analysis ◽  
Cost Effective Approach ◽  
Failure Evaluation

Offshore wind energy is one of the most upcoming sources of energy, and it is already partially replacing the fossil fuelled power production. However, offshore wind turbine technology is also associated with harsher weather environment. Indeed, it experiences more challenging wind and wave conditions, which in turn limits the vessels capabilities to access the wind farms. Additionally, with the constant rise of power utilization, improvements in the Operation Maintenance (O&M) planning are crucial for the development of large isolated offshore wind farms. Improvements in the planning of the O&M for offshore wind farms could lead to considerable reduction in costs. For this reason, the interest of this research paper is the investigation of the most cost effective approach to offshore turbine maintenance strategies. This objective is achieved by implementing a simulation approach that includes a climate conditions analysis, an operation analysis, a failure evaluation and a simulation of the repairs. This paper points out how different O&M strategies can influence the sustainability of a wind farm.

Community Benefits and UK Offshore Wind Farms: Evolving Convergence in a Divergent Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150001
Author(s):  
John Glasson
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Energy Industry ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Onshore Wind ◽  
Community Benefits ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Renewable Energy Industry

The Offshore Wind sector is a major, dynamic, and rapidly evolving renewable energy industry. This is particularly so in Europe, and especially in the UK. Associated with the growth of the industry has been a growth of interest in community benefits as voluntary measures provided by a developer to the host community. However, in many cases, and for some of the large North Sea distant offshore wind farms, the benefits packages have been disparate and pro rata much smaller than for the well-established onshore wind farm industry. However, there are signs of change. This paper explores the issues of community benefits for the UK offshore sector and evolving practice, as reflected in a macro study of the adoption of community benefits approaches across the industry. This is followed by a more in-depth micro- approach, which explores approaches that have been adopted in three case studies of recent OWF projects — Aberdeen, Beatrice and the Hornsea Array. Whilst there is still much divergence in practice, there are also examples of some convergence, and the development of a more replicable practice. Particularly notable is the adoption of annual community benefits funds, as the key element of community benefits schemes/agreements between developers, local authorities and local communities.

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