Here's at least least one consequence of super-sizing offshore wind turbines that you might not have considered: The equipment needed to install those turbines is getting bigger as well.
A prime example of this phenomenon recently emerged from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards at Geoje, at the southern end of South Korea, in the form of the world's largest wind farm installation vessel.
The Pacific Orca is 528 feet long, 160 feet wide and 34 feet deep. On a single foray out to sea, it can transport and install a dozen 3.6-megawatt turbines. Each shipload of those turbines, once in the place, spinning away for a year, generates enough power to meet the needs of around 12,000 average U.S. homes.
But this ship can handle even bigger turbines, even beyond the 5 and 6 MW turbines with their turbine blades measuring 75 meters in length; it's ready to take on the 10 MW turbines that the industry is envisioning out toward 2020.
Until then, there are a lot of turbines to go in, as offshore wind capacity grows rapidly from the current level under 5 gigawatts to perhaps five times that by 2017, according to International Energy Agency estimates [PDF]. Even at 5 MW apiece, it would take 4,000 new turbines to make that leap, so clearly there is plenty of business for the Pacific Orca.
How does the thing work? A key is those six tall stanchions you see rising from the vessel. Those are known as jackup legs. Those six legs descend to the seabed, as much as 200 feet below
A prime example of this phenomenon recently emerged from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards at Geoje, at the southern end of South Korea, in the form of the world's largest wind farm installation vessel.
The Pacific Orca is 528 feet long, 160 feet wide and 34 feet deep. On a single foray out to sea, it can transport and install a dozen 3.6-megawatt turbines. Each shipload of those turbines, once in the place, spinning away for a year, generates enough power to meet the needs of around 12,000 average U.S. homes.
But this ship can handle even bigger turbines, even beyond the 5 and 6 MW turbines with their turbine blades measuring 75 meters in length; it's ready to take on the 10 MW turbines that the industry is envisioning out toward 2020.
Until then, there are a lot of turbines to go in, as offshore wind capacity grows rapidly from the current level under 5 gigawatts to perhaps five times that by 2017, according to International Energy Agency estimates [PDF]. Even at 5 MW apiece, it would take 4,000 new turbines to make that leap, so clearly there is plenty of business for the Pacific Orca.
How does the thing work? A key is those six tall stanchions you see rising from the vessel. Those are known as jackup legs. Those six legs descend to the seabed, as much as 200 feet below