- Category: Publishers Note
Challenges of floating wind
If it is up to the European Commission, all the energy used will come from renewable sources by 2050. Achieving this goal will require the large-scale use of floating wind turbines. So far, the majority of offshore wind farms have been bottom-fixed; however, much of the world’s oceans and seas is too deep. In waters deeper than 50 metres, it becomes a technical and economic challenge to install bottom-fixed turbines. That is where floating wind comes in.
- Category: Publishers Note
How many wake-up calls does the world need?
‘The year 2006 started with conflict between Russia and Ukraine about supplying gas to the latter. The year 2007 started with a similar battle between Russia and Belarus about oil and Russia shut down the pipeline which transports oil to the rest of Europe.’ That is how my publisher’s note started in our January/February 2007 issue… 15 years later, Russia/Putin has invaded Ukraine and history is repeating itself.
- Category: Publishers Note
The year 2022 looks promising for (floating) offshore wind
Several governments around the world have recently announced plans to advance the development of (floating) offshore wind projects. The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a report outlining regional and national strategies for accelerating offshore wind deployment and operation in the USA. The majority of offshore wind activity is currently concentrated on the east coast, but the USA has begun to look into other regions as well. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, for example, has issued a request for information and nominations to assess commercial interest in, and solicit public comment on, potential commercial wind energy leasing in a proposed area in the Gulf of Mexico. The call area spans nearly 30 million acres (> 12 million hectares) from the Mississippi River to the Texas/Mexico border.
- Category: Publishers Note
COP26: Moving away from fossil fuels
COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, is coming to Glasgow, UK, in November 2021. More than 190 world leaders will attend this conference, which many believe to be the world’s last chance to get runaway climate change under control.
- Category: Publishers Note
HUSUM Wind 2021: first European on-site trade fair since the pandemic began
HUSUM Wind 2021 will take place as scheduled from 14 to 17 September as a presence trade fair. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in spring 2020, it will be possible to host an important trade fair for the wind and renewable energy sector as an on-site event.
- Category: Publishers Note
How to speed up recycling of wind turbine blades
Recycling is a hot theme in the wind industry and we have already published several articles about it in Windtech International. About 85 to 90% of a wind turbine can already be recycled. However, the bottleneck preventing 100% recyclability is the blades. Blades consist mostly of composite materials which are difficult to recycle. To speed up recycling of blades (and other composite components) WindEurope has called upon the European Commission (EC) to propose a Europe-wide ban on the landfill of decommissioned wind turbine blades by 2025. To support this ban (European) governments should increase funding for research and development in the commercialisation and scale-up of different blade recycling technologies.
- Category: Publishers Note
Will the US offshore wind market finally take off?
Vineyard Wind has recently received the Record of Decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior – Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the final major step in the federal review process for the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the USA. Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800MW project located 15 miles (ca 24 kilometres) off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and approval of the project is an important step towards achieving the Biden administration’s goal of bringing 30GW of offshore wind online by 2030.
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