Offshore Wind Turbines Could Tame Hurricanes
Arrays of offshore wind turbines might have cut Sandy's peak winds in the New York area by two-thirds. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Could an armada of giant windmills reduce damage from the next big hurricane?
A study by scientists at Stanford University and the University of Delaware suggests that U.S. coastal cities could be spared by installing tens of thousands of gigantic wind turbines offshore in arrays up to 20 miles long. The scientists say the turbines, as high as a football field is long, would suck much of the energy out of storms and pay for themselves with the clean electrical power they produce.
The idea is that if you take away enough wind speed and reduce the height of the waves, you will break the feedback loop that makes hurricanes more powerful. Computer models in the study show that the giant turbines—with blades more than 400 feet across, and hubs nearly 330 feet above the water—would cut the wind's force by about half.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, to cite an example from the study, having 78,000 turbines off the coast of New Orleans would have reduced the storm surge that swamped the city by as much as 71% and cut wind speeds by as much as 57%.
Still, while the physics may be sound, the economics may be less so: The study's authors propose 121,000 7.5-megawatt turbines or 181,000 five-megawatt turbines along the U.S. coastline, for total costs of $2.7 trillion, or about $77 billion a year over 35 years. As an extra incentive, the turbines not only would offer hurricane protection but would produce 20% of all U.S. power by 2050.
But there are now only about 1,900 offshore turbines in the top 25 offshore wind farms in the world, and none in the U.S.
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