The U.S. government recently announced local time that the development rights of offshore wind power projects in five regions along the coast of California have been successfully auctioned, with a transaction price exceeding US$757 million.
According to the Associated Press, the sale covered five maritime regions roughly 40 kilometers off the shore in central and northern California, totaling 1,510 square kilometers.
When finished, the projects will have a total generating capacity of 4.5 gigatonnes, enough to power over 1.5 million households. According to the US Consumer News and Business Channel, the auction's winning bids comprised four European firms and one American firm.
It is part of a "historic increase of renewable energy generation in the United States," as well as a "tremendous potential for the American economy," according to the national climate adviser. According to the research, the United States has vowed to have 30 gigatonnes of offshore wind power generating capacity by 2030, which can cover the electricity demands of around 10 million people across the country.
Offshore wind power is well established in nations such as the United Kingdom, although it is still in its early stages in the United States.
The auction launched this week by the United States government is the country's first sale of rights to build offshore wind-generating projects along the Pacific coast. The US government announced earlier this year the sale of wind power development rights in six marine regions in New York and New Jersey for $4.37 billion. Power production projects in these marine regions are estimated to produce 7 gigatonnes of renewable energy, enough to power approximately 2 million homes.
Wind energy is the world's fastest-growing green energy technology. While the development of onshore wind farms is fast progressing, some individuals have recognized significant limitations to the use of onshore wind energy, such as substantial land occupancy and noise pollution.
Due to the abundance of offshore wind energy resources and the feasibility of today's technology, the ocean will be a rapidly growing wind power market.
European and American offshore wind farms are on the eve of large-scale development.
Explore new options to reduce costs
A newly proposed 10MW offshore large-scale concept wind turbine can effectively reduce the number of foundations and reduce the cost of offshore wind farms.
According to the rated wind speed of 12m/s, to generate an output of 10MW, the diameter of the main rotor needs to be about 200m, the outer edge speed of the main rotor reaches 56m/s, the chord length of the main rotor blades is 3m, and the number of blades is 10.
The main rotor is fixed by tensioning wires, and the windward top of the main shaft is supported on a support tower with a diameter of 300mm, and the tower is fixed on the seabed.
In this way, the main rotor can rotate around the top as the incoming wind changes. The main rotor blade is composed of 7 sections, and 4 fans with a diameter of 3.6m are installed on the outermost section.
A large part of future wind power growth in Europe will come from offshore. The U.S. Department of Energy has also formulated a deep-sea development strategy for wind resources, combining offshore oil and gas development technology experience with near-shore shallow water (0-30m) wind energy development technology to develop deep-sea development.
Including low-cost anchoring technology, platform optimization, platform dynamics studies, suspended wind turbine standards, etc.
