LOW-COST GREEN ELECTRICITY FROM OFFSHORE WIND

Europeans are leading the way in converting offshore wind to green electricity! To date, over 1,600 MW of offshore windfarms have been installed, all in Europe, using offshore upwind horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs).  But, the installed costs/kW of offshore HAWT windfarms are currently very high, at $4,778/kW, resulting in very high costs/kWh of electricity from offshore wind.

We are developing cost-effective offshore windfarms, using low-cost/kW vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs), at 1/3 of cost/kW of offshore HAWT windfarms!

In addition, we are improving the energy efficiency of the VAWT with a variable-speed generator and better air foils. From the test data of Sandia National Labs, at high mean wind speeds of over 8.5 m/s, the energy efficiency of the VAWT can reach 93% that of the HAWT.

Therefore, with our low installed cost/kW [a small numerator in equation (1)] and by placing our offshore VAWT windfarms in strong offshore wind regions, generating a large of electricity per year [a large denominator in equation (1)], therefore our total installed cost/kWh/year will be very low, resulting in very low-cost/kWh of electricity from offshore wind.