Potential Geo-Hazards to Floating Offshore Wind Farms in the US Pacific

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tayebeh Tajalli Bakhsh ◽  
Kent Simpson ◽  
Tony LaPierre ◽  
Mahmud Monim ◽  
Jason Dahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Suitability Analysis ◽  
Ocean Energy ◽  
Ground Acceleration ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Suitability Index ◽  
The Us ◽  
Suitability Maps

Abstract To help the selection of suitable sites for development of offshore wind projects in the US on the coasts of California, Oregon and Hawaii, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) funded this study to assess the potential geo-hazards in this region. First, a comprehensive review of potential threats to the sites based on historic events is provided. The geospatial indexing for the call areas are then calculated based on weights associated with inputs, consisting of: sea floor slope, soil type, and seismicity (peak ground acceleration data of 500 year event). Finally, suitability indices are provided for each region. To perform a suitability analysis using geospatial indexing, all input factors are first standardized into a common scale, then a weighted overlay function is applied. Each of the criteria in the analysis is multiplied by the weights defined based on their importance in the region and then added together and suitability maps for each lease block are developed. Comprehensive maps of geohazards and geological data, suitability index maps and suitability rankings for the area of interest are being generated and presented online. This paper focuses on the floating windfarm call areas offshore California, including Humboldt, Morro Bay and Diablo Canyon, and presents the new approach for evaluating, integrating and indexing geospatial geohazard data for offshore windfarms, and the state-of-the-art suitability analysis approach. This new method can be also beneficial in the other parts of the world (e.g. East Asia), and similar concept can be implemented to evaluate the suitability of sites, based on the hazards in the area of interest.

scholarly journals A Decision-Making Tool for Planning O&M Activities of Offshore Wind Farms Using Simulated Actual Decision Drivers

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro D. Tomaselli ◽  
Martin Dixen ◽  
Rodolfo Bolaños Sanchez ◽  
Jacob Tornfeldt Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Efficient Planning ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Actual Decision

Safe and cost-efficient planning Operation&Maintenance (O&M) activities for the turbines of Offshore Wind Farms is crucial for the offshore wind industry. The execution of the planned tasks depends on the workability at sea. Workability assessments aim to find time periods, called weather windows, during which the personnel can execute the job at hand safely. Traditionally, weather windows analyses are based on thresholds applied on relevant metocean conditions in the area of interest, commonly wave height, wave period and wind speed. In this way, tasks are planned in windows during which the forecast metocean conditions do not exceed the defined thresholds. This paper presents a numerical tool that provides weather windows based on more direct measures of workability, that is seasickness on board during the trip to the turbines and bow motions, which endanger crew transfers from vessel to turbine. When assessing weather windows, such parameters better describe the actual decision drivers in a real operational setting than mere metocean thresholds, which are, in practical cases, discretionally judged by the O&M operator upon experience. Therefore, the reliability of workability predictions can increase, leading to financial gains for the wind industry and safer environment for O&M operators. The paper shows an application of the tool, where a full O&M scenario is simulated. The scenario comprises the transit from the port to the offshore site, the work carried out on the turbine and the transit back to the port. In particular, the application highlights the key capability of the tool of calculating vessel motions, which are elaborated to produce weather windows. With its low computational time-demand, the tool aims to support the decision-making processes that produce short- and long-term O&M plans.

The Life and Work of Bill Heronemus, Wind Engineering Pioneer

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 335-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woody Stoddard
Keyword(s):  
Wind Power ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Professor Emeritus ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
The Us ◽  
Oil Crisis ◽  
University Of Massachusetts ◽  
The University ◽  
Wind Power Development

William Edward Heronemus, Captain, USN (Ret.), Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, born April 16, 1920, died November 2, 2002. This is a memorial record and obituary of a remarkable wind power engineer, Bill Heronemus of the University of Massachusetts and, previously, of the US Navy. The author, a previous student and close colleague, writes personally, with much input and support from other colleagues and previous students. The aim is not only to record research, development and commitment at the early stages of modern wind power, but also to honour an admirable pioneer. Bill Heronemus is credited with foreseeing the 1973 Oil Crisis and thereafter wind power developments that have since been realised, including offshore wind farms. He is also credited with teaching and motivating many students who later became professional of modern wind power development and commerce. The obituary Note has been written from personal knowledge and from many written and verbal communications from colleagues and friends of Bill Heronemus who worked with him at different stages of his life. Details are referenced, with other records kept with the author.

scholarly journals Resource and Load Compatibility Assessment of Wind Energy Offshore of Humboldt County, California

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5707
Author(s):  
Christina Ortega ◽  
Amin Younes ◽  
Mark Severy ◽  
Charles Chamberlin ◽  
Arne Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Ocean Energy ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Humboldt County ◽  
Wind Generators ◽  
Annual Capacity

Floating offshore wind is being considered in northern California as indicated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s issuance of a lease consideration in the Humboldt Call Area. Humboldt County offers access to this enormous resource, but local electric load and transmission are limited. The potential impacts of offshore wind generators at three different scales were studied using a regional grid model of Humboldt County. Offshore wind generation was calculated using modeled wind speed data and 12-MW turbine specifications and integrated with projected load and historical generation. Offshore wind farms deployed in the Humboldt Call Area achieve annual capacity factors between 45% and 54% after losses and maintenance. Power output is variable between and within seasons, with full power output 30% of the time and no output approximately 20% of the time. Electricity from a 48-MW wind farm provides 22% of regional load with limited exports. A 144-MW wind farm serves 38% of local load, exporting 40% of its electricity with the extant 70-MW transmission capacity. A full build-out of 1836 MW would result in 88% curtailment with existing transmission. Across scenarios, offshore wind variability necessitates reliance on existing power plants to meet local demand in periods of low wind.

Disturbance of harbour porpoises during construction of the first seven offshore wind farms in Germany

2018 ◽  
Vol 596 ◽  
pp. 213-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Brandt ◽  
AC Dragon ◽  
A Diederichs ◽  
MA Bellmann ◽  
V Wahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms

Feasibility study for the installation of offshore wind farms in the Canary Islands

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (07) ◽  
pp. 809-813
Author(s):  
M. Martínez ◽  
A. Pulido ◽  
J. Romero ◽  
N. Angulo ◽  
F. Díaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Canary Islands ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms

scholarly journals Offshore wind farms and the attraction–production hypothesis: insights from a combination of stomach content and stable isotope analyses

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninon Mavraki ◽  
Steven Degraer ◽  
Jan Vanaverbeke
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stomach Content ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Artificial Reefs ◽  
Dietary Composition ◽  
Trachurus Trachurus ◽  
Offshore Wind Farms ◽  
Scomber Scombrus ◽  
Isotope Analyses

AbstractOffshore wind farms (OWFs) act as artificial reefs, attracting high abundances of fish, which could potentially increase their local production. This study investigates the feeding ecology of fish species that abundantly occur at artificial habitats, such as OWFs, by examining the short- and the long-term dietary composition of five species: the benthopelagic Gadus morhua and Trisopterus luscus, the pelagic Scomber scombrus and Trachurus trachurus, and the benthic Myoxocephalus scorpioides. We conducted combined stomach content and stable isotope analyses to examine the short- and the time-integrated dietary composition, respectively. Our results indicated that benthopelagic and benthic species utilize artificial reefs, such as OWFs, as feeding grounds for a prolonged period, since both analyses indicated that they exploit fouling organisms occurring exclusively on artificial hard substrates. Trachurus trachurus only occasionally uses artificial reefs as oases of highly abundant resources. Scomber scombrus does not feed on fouling fauna and therefore its augmented presence in OWFs is probably related to reasons other than the enhanced food availability. The long-termed feeding preferences of benthic and benthopelagic species contribute to the hypothesis that the artificial reefs of OWFs could potentially increase the fish production in the area. However, this was not supported for the pelagic species.

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