Wind is one of the most efficient ways to produce power in the renewables sphere. However, there's an issue: 80% of the world's wind blows in very deep waters where it is difficult to construct wind farms. In some exciting news, there is ground-breaking technology that could change that picture and increase the amount of energy created by wind. That new technology is a Floating Turbine Farm.

Company Wind Catching Systems has developed a floating turbine farm, aptly named Wind Catcher, that they believe could generate 5 times the energy produced by the world's largest wind turbine.

The key difference between Wind Catcher and traditional large turbines is that the new system is a large grid with 100 smaller turbines, with smaller wingspans. This new floating wind tech is more than three times as tall as an average wind turbine (matching the height similar to the Eiffel Tower), and stands on a floating platform that’s anchored to the ocean floor. The first prototype should be completed by the end of 2022, and if it is successful, it might supplant the older way of pulling energy from wind.

Wind Catching Systems claims that one Wind Catcher unit could power up between 80,000 and 100,000 households. And in ideal conditions, where the wind is at its strongest, one wind catcher unit could produce up to 400 gigawatt-hours of energy. For some comparison: The largest and most powerful wind turbines on the market right now only produce up to 80 gigawatt-hours.

There are several reasons as to how Wind Catcher could produce so much more energy.

• The Wind Catcher is very tall—which exposes the rotor blades to higher wind speeds.

• Smaller blades perform better. Traditional turbines are 120 feet long and usually max out at a certain wind speed. By comparison, the Wind Catcher’s blades are 50 feet long and can perform more rotations per minute, therefore generating more energy.

• Because the blades are smaller, the whole system is easier to manufacture, build, and maintain. The entire system is designed to have an average life of 50 years compared to 25 for most large turbines, in addition if one portion of the system needs maintenance, the system will continue to operate as compared to large turbines which in some cases must be shut down temporarily.

Now you may be asking yourself, how does floating solar successfully stay on top of large bodies of water?

Today, a typical offshore wind turbine needs to be drilled into the seabed and water depth typically can't exceed 200 feet, significantly limiting the distance offshore the turbine can be placed. To stay within a 200-foot depth limit, this normally limits placement to only around 20 miles offshore.

Remember that the greatest wind energy is in very deep waters. The advantage of floating turbines is the ability to place them in much deeper waters, because they’re only tethered to the seabed with thick mooring lines, which can be operated in waters more than 3,000 feet deep.

Floating Wind Farms and Wind Catcher is very exciting technology to watch - it could very well impact the future of wind-driven renewable energy and bring new innovative ideas to other future solutions!

Credited Sources Include:

“Technology.” Windcatching, https://windcatching.com/technology.