Alternative Energies
ASE II
UNIVERSIDAD IBEROAMERICANA
Abstract Wind energy has long been sold as a (EIA, 2016). Also the amount of electricity generated
clean, renewable, and bountiful alternative to fossil from wind is expected to continue to grow. The U.S.
fuels. So far this type of energy was limited to Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that
onshore wind farms but in the last decades energy wind power generation will increase by an average of
experts started to establish wind farms on the ocean. 2.4% a year through 2040.
This is due to the incredible amount of space
available out there and the constant wind that some
of these places can offer. Nevertheless the investment
and technology that these types of farms require is
quite high. In this paper, is reported the comparison
between onshore and offshore turbines with the last
ones being able to be a fixed monopole or a floating
platform. In each case the analysis covers different
aspects such as economic factors, environmental
effects, wind speed, space required and energy
transportation.
Index Terms
Offshore - situated at sea some distance from the
shore, onshore - situated or occurring on land.
I. INTRODUCTION
Figure 1, Graph of the Electricity Generation by Fuel Type.
Wind Power has gained a lot of attention in the past When talking about wind energy there can be of two
decade worldwide. This is due to the fact that in the past types, onshore wind turbines or offshore wind turbines.
few years it has become one of the cleanest and more The purpose of this paper is to compare the advantages
affordable energies of all the renewable ones. This is due and disadvantages of both types of turbines to determine
to economies of scale that have been growing in the last which one is more attractive to invest in and more
decade making it more affordable and cheap each and reliable when talking about wind power. Here is a brief
every year. Other factor is the fact that in Europe there is explanation of each one:
a 'climate-energy legislative package' that sets
mandatory national target corresponding to a 20 % share Before turning to the XXI century virtually all electricity
of renewable energies in overall community energy generated from wind power came from onshore wind
consumption by 2020 and a mandatory 10 % minimum farms. Wind turbines are the component in a wind power
target to be achieved by all Member States for the share plant that generates electricity, and thus the most
of renewable energy in transport consumption by 2020. important component when it comes to energy
generation. As technology advanced through the years so
EA-O16-T2 2
did the power to generate bigger and more efficient Offshore wind around the globe
turbines, that could not be installed in land due to size.
Onshore wind turbines are optimized at low-speed In order to look at offshore wind power we must look at
winds, as will be explained later on, this makes that Europe. Ever since the first offshore wind turbine was
subtle changes in wind speed and direction result in installed in 1990, in Sweden. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
great losses of energy. And even though new turbines Europe has been the area that has grown to have the
are able to rotate slightly or change the pitch of their most installed offshore wind farms in the world, even
blades to decrease the losses in energy, alternatives had though the Chinese are picking up the pace with projects
to be found in order to avoid these problems. (Anderson, to develop or build new wind farms, they do not have the
2013) technology as enhanced as the Europeans do. As of 30
The answer to these problems was offshore wind farms. June 2011, 1,247 offshore wind turbines have been fully
Starting with wind speed, and as will be explained with grid connected in Europe with a total capacity of 3,294
more detail later on, turbines are specialized for higher MW in 49 wind farms (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
wind speeds, providing more power to the grid when
needed. This can reduce the number of back-up plants
needed to provide energy when power is not generated II. WIND POWER PRINCIPLE
by the wind. Another problem that arises with onshore
wind farms, specially onshore is that people do not like The suns radiation warms the earth and with the
the way they change the landscape. With offshore farms radiation, the rays of light from the sun hit molecules of
this problem can be partially eradicated since the farms air transferring its energy making the molecules to move
are offshore and not visible from land. Because most big faster. When the molecules increase its velocity they
cities are near the coast offshore wind farms could be the move upward transferring the denser air downwards. In
solution to provide these cities with clean energy. this way heat energy from the sun is transferred into
(Anderson, 2013) kinetic energy to the wind. It is our job as scientists to
Onshore and offshore wind turbines are mostly the same maximize the energy that is converted from the
when looked at, not taking into consideration the movement of the wind into electrical energy. Wind
optimum wind speed of the turbines, however the design turbines seek to extract the kinetic energy from the wind
of offshore turbines has to be modified in order to resist and convert it into electrical energy. Moving air particles
to the extreme weather. Due to the high salinity of the hit the turbine blades, transferring their kinetic energy to
air and the fact that the structure is in contact with the circular motion of the blades. The moving blades
seawater makes It necessary for the turbines to have move a turbine that produces electricity, which then is
corrosion protection, internal climate control, high-grade transported into a grid. There is however, a limit on how
exterior paint and built in service cranes. (Sun Xiaojing, much energy a turbine can extract from the wind. If the
2012). turbine extracts all the energy from the wind the particles
Current wind turbines, either onshore or offshore have a of air will stay stationary near the blades. Returning
range in capacity between 1.5MW and 5MW, however some energy into the wind with the movement of the
the efficiency of the turbine is directly impacted by the blades. The Betz law describes this situation and says
velocity of the wind, and since wind currents are more that modern wind turbines can achieve peaks between
constant in the sea offshore wind turbines are more 75% to 80%.
efficient than onshore. The size of a wind turbine that is
to be placed in an onshore wind farm is often restricted Betz limit and Power Coefficient equations
by land space constraints on transportation of its
components and substructure (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) .
Offshore wind turbines, on the other hand, do not have Power extracted by the turbine
this restrictions, thus allowing the turbines to have large
rotors, varying from 65 to 135 m, in order to take the !
P! = A V ! Cp
most advantage of higher wind speeds and extract as !
For nearly the entire history of wind power, all the wind Disadvantages
turbines have been placed on farms, on grassy plains or
desert surfaces. In 1991 Denmarks Vinde by wind 1. Wind is Unpredictable: wind is hard to predict, in
facility was the first operational offshore wind farm. spite of the advanced technology available
Offshore wind farm started to be popular in the early nowadays, it is difficult to know the quantity of
2000s. Nowadays the majority of offshore wind wind that will be able in a month. The problem is
capacity is on the coast of the United Kingdom, and on that alternative energies are sold in advance, so a
the coast of the North Sea. Offshore wind energy has forecast is needed in order to do that, but with the
historically been very expensive, but it is starting to be wind being so unpredictable, there can be mistakes.
seen, that the offshore wind has the potential to be more 2. Intermittent wind: although in offshore the wind is
affordable than onshore farms. more constant, there is not always wind to depend
on for energy, this is a problem that makes this kind
of energy a little unreliable.
III. PROS AND CONS OF OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY 3. Costs: its cost-competitiveness is highly debatable,
it is required a a heavy upfront investment for the
manufacturing and installation of turbines. In
Like everything, wind turbines have some advantages
offshore, this investment is higher due to the
and disadvantages.
difficulty and conditions of being in the sea.
Advantages 4. Turbines are a threat to wildlife; migration of birds
and bats can be affected by wind turbines, mostly
1. They produce green energy. This means that because of the risk of hitting one.
benefiting from the wind in order to produce energy, 5. Turbines are Noisy: Noise is a problem for some
does not pollute the environment. Offshore wind people that live in the proximity of wind turbines. In
turbines produce more energy due to the higher wind offshore, this problem is eliminated because the
speed found in the sea. noise is not that loud to reach the coastal cities.
2. They have an enormous potential: studies have 6. Aesthetics: While most people actually like how
shown that the worldwide potential of wind power is wind turbines look, there is always some who do
more than four hundred TW. If the sea is so big, not.
there is a major possibility of increasing that
potential due to all the space available for turbines to IV. WIND SPEED
be erected.
3. They work with a renewable source: wind is Onshore wind speed
naturally occurring, and as long as the sun keeps
shining, we will be able to harness wind energy. Before Offshore Wind started to gain popularity,
4. They are space-efficient: wind turbines cannot be onshore wind farms generated all the wind power.
placed too close to each other, but the land in- Onshore wind farms are cheaper and require less
between can be used for other things. When talking infrastructure and specialized technology. However,
about offshore wind turbines, this is definitely not a wind turbine is optimized for a specific wind velocity.
problem, as we know that there is plenty of space in When the winds velocity varies from the ideal velocity
the sea. it becomes less efficient. Mainly onshore wind turbines
5. Energy produced by offshore turbines has a rapid are optimized for the low-speed winds, when high
growth: as of today, wind energy accounts for only velocity winds blow in the region of the farms,
the 2.5% of the production while it is estimated to sometimes it is more cost effective to shut them down to
grow at a rate of 25% each year. This is because of minimize risk of damage. The same happens when the
the great potential seen in offshore wind turbines. wind changes direction. New turbines can rotate so the
EA-O16-T2 4
blades can adapt to gain energy from the wind even Where:
though this changes its direction. These technology
increases the efficiency of the turbines and decreases the K.E = Kinetic Energy
risk of damage, but it also motivates us to look for new M = Mass
wind turbine locations where these problems are not V = velocity
presented.
Power
Offshore Wind speed
!
P = A V!
!
As we already said before, offshore wind turbines have
A = r!
been taken seriously as an alternative or supplement to
onshore wind turbines since 1991. The problem of
Where:
efficiency that the onshore wind turbine faces due to the
change of velocity of the wind is solved in offshore
P=Power
farms. The wind speeds over the oceans are typically
= Air density
much higher, and are also much more consistent. This
V = velocity
means that you can optimize the offshore wind turbine
A=Rotor swept area
with a higher wind velocity that will produce energy
always in the ideal velocity. Making the production of
energy more efficient in offshore than in onshore.
To take advantage of the stronger winds in the offshore
Furthermore wind speeds increases in the afternoons,
farms, offshore turbines need to be bigger than onshore
when power demand is the highest. As opposed to
turbines and have a bigger generation capacity. Offshore
onshore. Which experiences the highest winds speed
turbines generally have nominal capacities between 2
during the night; when the demand is at its lowest.. If
MW and 5 MW, with tower heights greater than 200 feet
offshore turbines are optimized to experience higher
and rotor diameters of 250 to 430 feet. The maximum
velocity in the afternoons, they will produce more
height of the structure, at the very tips of the blades, can
energy when the grid needs an additional boost. This
easily approach 500 feet, and turbines even larger than 5
may reduce the number of back-up plants that must be
MW are being designed and tested for future use.
maintained and operated to meet the peak load reducing
the carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, the benefit that comes with the offshore
wind farms comes with a more expensive price in
As offshore wind tends to blow stronger and more
comparison with onshore wind farms. These prices tend
uniformly than in onshore farms, the potential energy
to increase because the wind turbine needs to be adapted
produced from the wind is directly proportional to the
to the stronger wind conditions. They also need to resist
cube of the wind speed. For instance, a turbine at a site
the extreme storms, which are more severe than in
with an average wind speed of 16 mph would produce
onshore.
50% more electricity than at a site with the same turbine
and average wind of 14 mph. This is one of the main
Wind speeds in the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of
reasons why offshore wind turbines are gaining
Mexico are lower that wind speeds in the Pacific Coasts.
popularity among the conventional farms in the United
However, the Pacific Ocean has deeper waters in
States. Another reason is, that in the United States 53%
comparison to the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of
of the nations population lives in coastal areas, where
Mexico. All these things need to be taking into
energy cost and demands are pretty high and the
consideration when evaluating the location of a wind
transportation of the energy does not result that
farm. Nowadays, it is not enough to evaluate the
inefficient.
engineering part regarding the wind speed in the location
of the farms. The materials of the turbine or the grids for
Wind speed equations:
transporting the electricity, and the economical aspects
are crucial factors as well. We will talk about this point
Kinetic Energy
later on in our investigation.
!
K.E = !
!
EA-O16-T2 5
Table 3, Table of the scale of the investment depending on the depth of the water and the distance to the shore by the European Energy
Association.
but also accepting the fact that the need for renewable impossibility to interpret the environment and
energy is extremely urgent because climate change is masking communication with their own species.
threatening more species than wind power. This Royal Although there can be a noise damage during the
Society for the Protection of Birds is actually making its operational phase, the biggest problem is developed
best in order to protect the species. This is because in the during the construction phase. It is proved that
long term, birds will be more affected by climate than by reported noise from operating turbines is really low
a random encounter with a turbine. This problem and unlikely to damage the mentioned hearing
involves different aspects, not only the direct killing of a system of marine species.
bird by a rotating turbine. These risks can be
summarized in three groups:
IX. STATE OF ART
Migration routes and corridors: flight paths and In December 2015 195 countries adopted the first global
patterns of birds are concentrated in restricted climate deal in Paris. The agreement sets a plan to
areas, such as mountains. So with the location of reduce and eventually stop global warming. One of the
onshore turbines mostly in mountain passes, most important issues is the reduction of carbon
they are interfering with their routes disorienting emissions. This is one of the mayor reasons why there
and making birds lose their flock, sometimes has been such an investment worldwide to find greener
leading to death. sources of energy.
Electrocution: overhead power distribution lines
from turbines, lead to some risks like In this section two types of ongoing research is going to
electrocution of birds and bats. be discussed. The first one: vertical axis wind turbines.
Disturbance of habitat: the breeding of these (S. Astariz, 2016)
species can be disturbed by the wind turbines,
this because if their preferable habitats are There has been a lot of investigation in the past years
occupied by the turbines, birds will have to looking to introduce vertical axis wind turbines,
move elsewhere to breed. If they move to a especially in deep water locations. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012).
habitat with unfavorable conditions, their breed The research shows that vertical axis offshore wind
can die. turbines should perform better than horizontal axis
turbines and be more cost-effective. (Sun Xiaojing,
The last, but not least aspect encompasses seabirds,
2012) This is due to the following facts: vertical axis
fish and marine conservation for offshore wind
turbines have a simpler structure than horizontal axis
farms. Although risks for this one are low (the visual
ones; the rotation of the turbine isnt affected by the
problem is eliminated because they are far from
direction in which the wind is blowing; they have a low
shore and the noise is almost null as nobody can
center of gravity and the maintenance cost of the turbine
hear from that far), they are not negligible. The risks
should be greatly reduced. Because of these factors the
of collision for birds are extremely low, so even the
size, and thus the power of the vertical axis wind turbine
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is really
might be able to get much bigger when compared to
optimistic for this scenario, accepting the almost null
horizontal axis. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) Shanghai
risks for birds and bat at offshore. For the case of
University has a Marine and Wind Energy research
seabirds, they may have the problem with breeding,
group that has focused on developing a novel vertical
but it is shown that the overall effect on population
axis wind turbine. The turbine has several flat plates
is negligible. Regarding fish and other marine
around the rotor. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012) In addition to
species, offshore wind energy development includes
having all the advantages of vertical axis wind turbines,
effects of mortality, injury, vulnerability, habitat
this type of turbine also can achieve the higher wind
change and threats. Another risk for marine wildlife
energy utilization efficiency and structural stability than
is the noise generated by the construction and
conventional vertical axis wind turbines. Thus, this
operation of the turbines, causing modification on
design could have great potential for offshore
their behavior, reduction of habitat and displacement
application. (Sun Xiaojing, 2012)
due to the turbines placed there.. This noise tends to
travel underwater interfering and damaging the
acoustic system of the marine species it encounters
in that area. Many mammals living in the sea depend
on their hearing systems to live, orient and predate,
so if the noise interferes with that, it can cause
EA-O16-T2 9
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