Hurricane risk is real for offshore wind

[rebewranger]

Hurricane risk is real for offshore wind
By David Wojick |June 24th, 2022


My regular readers know that I have been fussing about the threat of hurricanes destroying proposed Atlantic coast offshore wind arrays. The issue arises because the offshore wind industry is based in Europe, which does not get hurricanes. My focus has been Dominion’s massive project off Virginia, but the whole East Coast is hurricane alley.

Now I have found some research that actually quantifies the threat and it is very real. It looks like wind generators will have to be redesigned specifically to withstand hurricanes. In fact that work is underway. In the meantime we should not be building conventional offshore wind towers.

The 2017 press release is succinctly titled “Offshore wind turbines vulnerable to Category 5 hurricane gusts”. The PR says this: “The study, which was conducted in collaboration with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, highlights the limitations of current turbine design and could provide guidance for manufacturers and engineers looking to build more hurricane-resilient turbines in the future.”

https://www.cfact.org/2022/06/24/hurricane-risk-is-real-for-offshore-wind/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hurricane-risk-is-real-for-offshore-wind

[Smokin Joe]

Yeah, just wait until broken wind mill blades come washing up with the storm surge and hit marinas, form hazards to navigation, destroy homes...

[Cyber Liberty]

Well, DUH.  They can barely withstand 75 MPH sustained winds (many fail and catch fire at that speed), so twice that wind will blow them completely away.

[GtHawk]

Yeah, just wait until broken wind mill blades come washing up with the storm surge and hit marinas, form hazards to navigation, destroy homes...

Nothing like flying blades of death carried on hurricane force winds. I was incredibly scared when high Santa Ana winds were whipping steel Robson decking off the upper floors of a building and through the air around a job site I worked, the phrase flying guillotines was quite apt. I don't think I would like to be near one of those wind mills coming apart and sailing through the air.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Ask any experienced sea captain on whether these things are in peril.

[Smokin Joe]

Ask any experienced sea captain on whether these things are in peril.

Ask them if they want to make contact with a floating blade while under weigh.

Then ask veterans of hurricanes in coastal areas if they want one of those blades washing in on the storm surge, or even just coming in with the tide.