UMass researchers are hoping to develop a wind turbine mooring system that would use a networked series of anchors for multiple turbines instead of individual anchors that are used now.
( AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, files)
AMHERST - A team of researchers including two engineers from the University of Massachusetts is developing a new mooring system for floating offshore wind turbines that uses an integrated network of anchors and lines to hold dozens of turbines in place in the ocean.
Civil and environmental engineers Sanjay R. Arwade and Don J. DeGroot from UMass Amherst, along with Charles P. Aubeny from Texas A&M University and Melissa Landon of the University of Maine, are conducting the research with a three-year, $497,341 grant from the National Science Foundation, according to a press releas.
The research team is working with Vryhof Anchors, an international industrial partner that produces offshore anchoring systems, including the one used by the world's first floating offshore wind turbine in Norway, according to the release.
Vryhof can assist Arwade and DeGroot with assessment of installation, staging and cost-estimating and will help guide the research to directly apply to industry needs, according to the release.
The goal is to develop offshore floating wind farms where individual floating wind turbines are moored using the networked series of anchors and cables that hold the entire farm in place.
Currently, each floating wind turbine has its own individual anchoring system.
Researchers are hoping this project will hasten the progress toward the goal of generating 20 percent of U.S. energy needs from wind power by potentially reducing the cost of building offshore wind farms by a significant margin.
UMass and Texas A&M reasearchers are also are working on a project to save bats from the turbine blades.