A new design for offshore wind
(sustainabilityenvironment.com) – It does not have a traditional tower but four diagonal supports that join the top. It is the special pyramidal floating wind of T-Omega Wind, an American startup launched in 2020 by engineers Andrew Myers and Jim Papadopoulos. The company has designed and built an innovative floating wind turbine that promises to lower energy costs by simplifying and speeding up installation and maintenance operations.
Economically supported by the National Science Foundation and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the invention has already been tested under laboratory conditions: A small turbine on a 1/60 scale has proven its qualities in a large tank with artificial waves up to 12 meters high. And since last week a 1/16 scale prototype has been successfully launched off New Bedford, Massachusetts, where it will remain for an unknown period.
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The pyramidal floating wind
What is special about the T-Omega Wind pyramid floating wind? First of all, the shape. Although it is equipped with a three-blade horizontal axis turbine, the traditional carrycot is replaced by an axis supported at both ends. The central tower is instead replaced by four diagonal poles that rest at the bottom of the floating platform.
Depending on the wind direction, the entire platform structure rotates in a curve around a central anchor, like a clock hand. “The TOW [T-Omega Wind] system floats in shallow or very deep water, rides the waves instead of resisting them, with a rotor held firmly on both sides as it aligns with the wind,” the company explains.
The advantages? According to the developers, the unit would have significantly reduced initial costs, thanks to a lower use of materials, from extremely simple production and implementation and ease of installation and maintenance. A commercial-scale pyramidal wind turbine should offer 10 MW of power, boasting a 198 m rotor and a height of 119 for a total weight of between 1,200 and 1,800 tons.
