U.S. energy officials have set a bullish target for wind farms to generate one fifth of the country’s electricity by 2030. Add 'Mother Nature' into the plans and you have vulnerability and risk.
Several studies show that wind turbines are highly susceptive to being damaged or destroyed by hurricanes.
According to academic experts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, half of the turbines at four proposed offshore wind farms are likely to be destroyed by hurricanes in their 20-year life. The researchers at Carnegie Mellon University suggest that these offshore wind facilities that are built along the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the East Coast are engineered to withstand the winds of a strong hurricane than what the current design calls for.
A study author warned,
Hurricanes pose a significant risk to wind turbines off the U.S. Gulf and East coasts, even if they are designed to the most stringent current standard.
The proposed wind farms located off Galveston, Texas; the Outer Banks of North Carolina; Atlantic City, New Jersey and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts could cost $175 million each.
The researchers used mathematical models to predict how many towers would buckle in the four considered states, following the U.S. Department of Energy’s 20 percent target set four years ago.
But they have insisted the potential damage could be significantly reduced if the ‘nacelle’ covers, which house the generating components, are better designed to withstand huge amounts of wind.
Turbines shut down during high winds, but can still buckle thanks to hurricanes, reported New Scientist. Experts said the Texas site is the most dangerous place out of all four that they studied.
On average, around three in four Atlantic basin hurricanes stay offshore and do not strike land. These storms pose the biggest risks to wind farms.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study was led by engineer Stephen Rose, who said turbines can currently withstand a top wind speed of 111mph about 300ft above the ground.
This is only equal to a strong Category 2 hurricane. As you get to Categories 3, 4, 5 - that's where the risks are. Of all four locations, Galveston is the riskiest because it is more susceptible to a hurricane of a Category 3 or greater intensity.
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