Bowling for subsidies continued. So long as there is an endless supply of ratepayers who have been hoodwinked by the media to believe wind power is a viable and necessary electricity source, there will be an endless supply of hucksters looking to take advantage. Why is nuclear power almost never mentioned by the media? Why are the true costs of wind power almost never mentioned by the media? Did a university ever see an opportunity for grant money it didn't like?

Note that the developments reported on in this PPH article follow the U.S. DOE's condemnation in February of current approaches to floating wind turbines. That condemnation stated ".....the current state of the art for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) is too massive and expensive for practical deployment.......FOWTs are currently designed to be large and heavy to replicate more familiar onshore wind turbine dynamics, maintain stability, and survive storms. However, this approach fundamentally limits how inexpensive FOWTs can ever become. For that, see:http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/u-s-doe-seemingly-scrap...

The Press Herald article today talks about larger turbines yet the DOE's remarks in February suggested current turbines are too big. Perhaps someone can reconcile these seemingly different directions.

10/31/19

By Tux TurkelStaff Writer

PPH - Competition makes UMaine think bigger about its offshore wind project

A pending $5 million federal energy grant to help the University of Maine design larger platforms for a coming generation of floating offshore wind farms reflects a new reality in the wind power industry: turbine sizes that seemed unimaginable only 10 years ago................The current challenge is to design turbine-support platforms that can be anchored in deep water 10-20 miles offshore, out of sight of land and in areas where winds are stronger and steadier.......................Now Equinor is building an 88-megawatt floating farm off Norway, Hywind Tampen, using 8-megawatt turbines. They will stand on a floating steel “spar buoys,” cylinders filled with ballast consisting of water and thousands of tons of iron ore...........................This industry scale up in turbine size is based on physics. Wind energy increases with the cube of the wind speed, meaning that doubling the wind speed creates eight times the energy. That’s why developers are looking at places, such as the Gulf of Maine, that are both near population centers and feature high, sustained winds that can be captured by massive turbines.....................................The proposed long-term contract would cost Central Maine Power customers an extra 73 cents per month on their bills. Supporters said it’s a small price to help kick start a new industry in Maine.................................. (Meanwhile, Social Security's 2020 1.6% cost of living adjustment amounts to a mere $23 a month for someone receiving the average retirement benefit of $1,460; but just keep telling us that 73 cents here and 73 cents there do not matter)

Read the entire article at:

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/10/31/competition-prompts-umaine-t...

EARLIER:

Oct 22, 2019 - UMaine to develop alternative floating wind in place of Monhegan planned two 6-MW turbine project

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/oct-22-2019-umaine-to-d...

Feb 5, 2019 - DOE to Floating Wind Turbine Technology: Go Back To Square One

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/u-s-doe-seemingly-scrap...

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