Development of a 40 MW . dual-wing floating wind turbine model

The floating turbine design of the company World Wide Wind, Norway, approaches wind energy in a different direction. These vertical axis floating wind turbines (VAWTs) have two sets of blades that rotate in opposite directions, promising more than twice the capacity of today's largest turbines, New Atlas reported on August 30.

The vertical turbine rotates in the opposite direction of the World Wide Wind. (Photo: World Wide Wind)

Some experts and operators consider the VAWT well suited for offshore installations. This type of turbine tends to stay upright and is harder to dump. They can receive wind energy from all directions instead of directly picking it up, helping to reduce the need for bulky components such as horizontal axis turbines.

World Wide Wind introduces an entirely new type of floating VAWT specifically designed for offshore deployment and easy to scale. In fact, it's two VAWTs in one, a lower turbine that is fixed to the outer shell of the pylon and rotates in one direction, the taller turbine attached to the shaft and rotates in the other direction. The company calls this design a counter-rotating vertical turbine (CRVT).

The heaviest and most maintenance-intensive part is the turbine base, below the floating pontoon bridge. But turbines are not designed to be vertical. The tower will tilt with the wind, increasing the resistance to sudden gusts of wind and damage from vibration.

The world's largest wind turbine today is MingYang Smart Energy 16.0-242. With a height of 242 m, this turbine has a design capacity of 16 MW. World Wide Wind says its new turbine model can reach a height of 400 m and a capacity of 40 MW / unit. The company representative said that the expected cost of conductive electricity production (LCoE - cost per unit of energy over the entire average life of the technology) is expected to be nearly 50 USD/MW, less than 1/2. LCoE of offshore wind projects of the US Department of Energy Information will be operational in 2027.

World Wide Wind shares that the company is accelerating the development of CRVT through prototypes. The goal is to put into operation the 3 MW model by 2026 and the completed 40 MW version by 2029. However, finding a location to test the technology in the North Sea is very difficult because there are so many other projects in the pipeline. area.