
America's Wind Energy Future Looks Seaward - ph0rque
https://www.nrel.gov/news/features/2017/americas-wind-energy-future-looks-seaward.html?utm_source=NREL+News&utm_campaign=45bf66e49f-EMAIL_FS_Offshore-Wind_2017_10_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_807f77e7f4-45bf66e49f-282463161
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chrisamiller
The US has a ludicrous amount of sparsely settled farmland in the interior.
Why not just build more windfarms there? That dramatically reduces the cost
and technical challenges. Yes, there are transmission losses to factor in, but
at least based on the wikipedia article it seems like those aren't necessarily
dealbreakers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#Lo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#Losses)

Is there anyone with expertise in the subject that can weigh in?

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cbcoutinho
Energy created in unequal bursts is highly inefficient to transport long
distances - those sparsely populated places are not necessarily where you need
to be getting _to_. Getting those bursts of electricity intermittently is not
ideal and utility companies wouldn't be running towards the opportunity

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dx034
Is it, though? China built some high capacity long-distance transmission lines
for wind with relatively low losses. Obviously costs are higher if the line is
only used for 6h a day but that doesn't mean that transmission isn't
efficient.

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cbcoutinho
I should have specified that I meant economically inefficient. It may be
technically efficient, but the low load factor (I would be surprised if wind
is more than around 20-25% operational) would make transmission line that much
more expensive to install than a similarly sized facility with a higher load
factor

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calt
A lot of interesting engineering research into floating offshore wind is being
done at University of Maine. They have some prototypes producing power.
Understanding the characteristics of the carbon composites has, AFAIK, been
the major limiting factor in their more widespread production.

[https://composites.umaine.edu/offshorewind/](https://composites.umaine.edu/offshorewind/)

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Qworg
They desperately need to get a proven production model into the water. There
are working fields already deployed:
[https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/10/first-floating-
wind-...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/10/first-floating-wind-farm-
built-by-offshore-oil-company-delivers-electricity/)

