Hurricane Risk to Offshore Wind (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study still relevant)

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences research article, “Quantifying the Hurricane Risk to Offshore Wind Turbines” (February 13, 2012), remains relevant today to the energy policy debate.

“Modern wind farms are reliable, safe, state-of-the-art power plants with well-tested technologies that meet approved standards and hundreds of thousands of hours of operating experience,” the U.S. Department of Energy states.

All aggravate the already bad economics and poor prospects of offshore wind in the U.S.

“Wind Turbines Destroyed by Typhoon Yagi,” read one recent headline.

Turbine tower buckling has been observed in typhoons, but no offshore wind turbines have yet been built in the United States.” “We present a probabilistic model to estimate the number of turbines that would be destroyed by hurricanes in an offshore wind farm.

This (during peak hurricane season 2024) has wind power in the (not-so-good) news.

The U.S. offshore wind industry will be spared–but only because of projects that have been abandoned or delayed.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/09/11/hurricane-risk-to-offshore-wind-proceedings-of-the-national-academy-of-sciences-study-still-relevant/