Coastal Resources in the United States - PDF

De Montfort University
Investigation on Offshore Wind Power Technology in U.S.A
[Type Name here]
[Type course module here]
[Type module name here]
May 2018
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Executive Summary
From a worldwide point of view there are great advancements in the exploration of the wind
power technology, with major investments in most European countries. The United States, in
particular does so well in this energy sector. This has been mainly caused by the vast resources
of the onshore wind power readily available to satisfy to a great degree the power needed in the
country. However, on land wind power is smaller compared to the offshore due to the increased
wind speeds in the seas. This paper presents a critical assessment of the coastal resources in the
United States by exploring the possible use of this promising deep-water wind technology,
predicting the long term cost of energy trends, the resulting impacts of its use to the environment.
The possible hindrances to the full development of the technology in the United States of
America is analysed and then a personal reflection on the impacts of the widespread adoption
and the feasibility of using the offshore wind technology is given to conclude the report. The use
of offshore wind technology can be used to greatly diversify the electric energy supply of the
United States and provide a new market for wind energy to complement on the onshore
developments.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
State of offshore wind power production in the United States........................................................7
Impact on the energy system and other fuels.................................................................................10
Technical developments................................................................................................................12
Barriers to offshore wind power....................................................................................................14
Personal reflection.........................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
In the category of clean energy, the wind power makes one of the most actively sort for energy
resources and is developed on many countries around the world. The resource forms one of the
oldest source of clean and renewable energy. In the early centuries the wind power was used in
boat propulsion along River Nile, water pumping to large farms in China, and for draining lakes
and marshy lands in Germany (Wind Energy Foundation, 2016). The increasing shortage and
depletion of the fossil fuels (oil) around the world change the worldwide view of the energy
picture, thus inspiring interests in alternative sources of energy: this therefore paved up way for
the re-entry of wind turbine technology mainly for power generation. Environmental and
scientific studies in Europe resurfaced the immediate concern on the adverse effects in continued
use of the fossil fuels to the environment, which indicated that the global climate would change
if no alternative sources of clean energy were developed; therefore wind technology dramatically
picked up, both in research and development in Europe. Today, wind power technology exists
from small sized turbines for charging batteries to large onshore and offshore gigawatt sizes for
electric supply to the national grids (Wind Energy Foundation, 2016).
Electricity is generated through the conversion of the wind’s kinetic energy (contained in air
currents) into the rotation of wind turbines, as they flow past the turbine blades, which thus
rotates a motor inside a generator to produce power. This power is then conveyed through cables
down to the base of the tower which then combines with power from other windmills then
collected at a local electricity distribution network (Marc , et al., 2010). The windmills are
usually spread out in a common area (in a wind farm) for energy collection and also to reduce the
adverse environmental impacts. Each windmill has a control computer system installed within to
monitor the wind speeds then auto sets the blades to rotate at a safe speed. In cases of
exceedingly high wind speeds, the computer control system ensures a complete automatic
turbine shut down thus preventing the turbine from turning; this prevents cases of accidents
(Genesis Energy, 2010).
The main components of any offshore wind system include a meteorological system: this mast is
used to evaluate the meteorological environment of the project area and other necessary site
resource data like the temperature of the surrounding air, the barometric pressure temperature of
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