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The floating wind industry is up to something. Instead of relying on the familiar three blades perched on a tall tower, new floating turbines are configured like strange, seagoing carousels, with blades that circle around a vertical axis. The vertical axis is the key that enables radical new design strategies, including — wait for it — a wind turbine that doesn’t have a tower at all.
The Offshore Floating Wind Advantage
The towerless wind turbine in question is a project of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories. It didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. The lab has been researching vertical axis technology since the 1970’s.
In 2019 the Energy Department put out a call for new, cost-cutting floating wind turbine designs with the aim of cutting costs, and a team…
Read the full article originally published at cleantechnica.com.