https://newatlas.com/energy/touchwind-floating-wind-turbine/ * SUBSCRIBE AD-FREE * LOG IN * HOME * LIFESTYLE + Health & Wellbeing + Outdoors + Tiny Houses + Architecture + Around the Home + Good Thinking + Holiday Destinations + View all LIFESTYLE categories + Health & Wellbeing + Outdoors + Tiny Houses + Architecture + Around the Home + Good Thinking + Holiday Destinations + View all LIFESTYLE categories * SCIENCE + Energy + Medical + Space + Materials + Biology + Environment + Physics + View all SCIENCE categories + Energy + Medical + Space + Materials + Biology + Environment + Physics + View all SCIENCE categories * TECHNOLOGY + Photography + Military + Mobile Technology + Games + Drones + Home Entertainment + Deals + View all TECHNOLOGY categories + Photography + Military + Mobile Technology + Games + Drones + Home Entertainment + Deals + View all TECHNOLOGY categories * TRANSPORT + Automotive + Aircraft + Bicycles + Motorcycles + Marine + Urban Transport + View all TRANSPORT categories + Automotive + Aircraft + Bicycles + Motorcycles + Marine + Urban Transport + View all TRANSPORT categories (c) 2023 New Atlas New Atlas logo Menu * HOME * LIFESTYLE + Health & Wellbeing + Outdoors + Tiny Houses + Architecture + Around the Home + Good Thinking + Holiday Destinations + View all LIFESTYLE categories * SCIENCE + Energy + Medical + Space + Materials + Biology + Environment + Physics + View all SCIENCE categories * TECHNOLOGY + Photography + Military + Mobile Technology + Games + Drones + Home Entertainment + Deals + View all TECHNOLOGY categories * TRANSPORT + Automotive + Aircraft + Bicycles + Motorcycles + Marine + Urban Transport + View all TRANSPORT categories * SUBSCRIBE AD-FREE * LOG IN Show Search [ ]Search Query Submit Search Energy Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cost, more power By Loz Blain September 13, 2023 * Facebook * Twitter * Flipboard * LinkedIn Inline image / # Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cost, more power Giant single-bladed turbines could create more power in floating offshore arrays, at half the cost of a traditional design Giant single-bladed turbines could create more power in floating offshore arrays, at half the cost of a traditional design Touchwind View 6 Images 1/6 Giant single-bladed turbines could create more power in floating offshore arrays, at half the cost of a traditional design Touchwind 2/6 At higher wind speeds, the big blade pulls the tower upright, exposing a smaller section to the wind Touchwind 3/6 A simpler design without multiple tilting blades could allow much larger rotor sweeps Touchwind 4/6 Buoyant barrel floats are anchored to the sea floor Touchwind 5/6 Touchwind says the devices should be relatively straightforward to manufacture and deploy from harbors Touchwind 6/6 Rather than a regular tower design, where the natural forces of operation want to push the pole over, Touchwind says its design uses lift from the blades to pull itself further upright as wind speeds increase Touchwind [icon-mouse-sc] View gallery - 6 images We haven't seen a floating offshore wind turbine like this before. Touchwind claims its innovative single-blade turbines will solve several problems to drive down cost and downtime, using a single, huge blade with no fancy active pitch controls. Most of the world's best wind resources are way offshore, in ocean far too deep to exploit with typical fixed-tower turbines. The deep sea could thus make a huge clean power contribution, while creating far less trouble for residents and wildlife than onshore wind farms. But the technology to harness offshore wind from floating devices anchored to the sea bed is far from settled, so there's a gold rush of sorts in progress as some radically different designs duke it out on the spec sheet, in wave tanks and in prototype testing. They're all hoping to find the sweet spot between cost, power generation, cost, longevity, reliability, cost, ease of manufacture, ease of installation and maintenance, cost, cost and cost. Buoyant barrel floats are anchored to the sea floor Touchwind Dutch company Touchwind has an interesting spin on the idea... waka waka. It's designed around a massive single-piece rotor, sitting on the end of a pole that's draped over a big barrel, with a large floating buoy hanging beneath it. This one huge double blade, says Touchwind, should cost around 30% as much to make as the triple-bladed arrangements on traditional turbines. It doesn't require any expensive active blade-pitch control systems, and where most standard turbines need to shut down in wind speeds above 25 or so m/sec (90 km/h / 56 mph), this one is rated for speeds as high as 70 m/sec (252 km/h / 157 mph). Less downtime equals more productive hours and more energy. The blade is fixed to the mast at a slight upward angle. At low wind speeds, the mast tilts right over, and effectively the blade stays out of the water with the assistance of that dangling buoy. But as wind speeds pick up and the blade starts spinning fast, it develops lift, much like a helicopter's main rotor, and begins pulling the mast upright. At higher wind speeds, the big blade pulls the tower upright, exposing a smaller section to the wind Touchwind Thus, in high wind speeds, it sits nearly flat to the horizon, greatly limiting the wind's ability to spin it faster. And as this happens, the buoy is lifted out of the water, becoming a ballast weight acting against the lift of the main blade, helping to reduce stress on the sea floor anchors and prevent the whole thing from taking off and starting a new life where nobody knows its name. As with many other floating designs, it's agnostic to the direction of the incoming wind, and will passively float around to orient itself in the optimal direction at all times. Touchwind says the design lends itself to easy manufacture at more or less any harbor facility capable of handling the 200-m (656-ft) blade required for a 12-MW turbine, and it's similarly easy to tow out to site and attach to a ground anchor and power export cable for installation. Touchwind says the devices should be relatively straightforward to manufacture and deploy from harbors Touchwind The company has completed both land-based and floating platform prototypes at small scale, and is beginning to expand testing thanks to fresh investment from Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. "We have been working together for a year now on the further development of our floating wind turbine," said Touchwind Founder and CEO Rikus van de Klippe, in a press release. "Field testing with a 6-m diameter rotor is in full preparation at the Oostvoorne lake in the Netherlands. With MOL as a shareholder and their investments we can speed up our testing program, prove our technology and reduce time to market." We're not sure when the company expects to be operating at scale, and unfortunately, there are no projections at this stage on what the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) from these beasties might look like. So it's hard to get a read on how competitive it might be in a commercial deployment, assuming development and funding proceed without too much drama. Check out a video below. TW Mono v1.0 Source: Touchwind via Recharge News View gallery - 6 images Tags EnergyRenewable EnergyOffshore WindFloatingWind turbineWind Power Floating offshore wind * Facebook * Twitter * Flipboard * LinkedIn 9 comments Loz Blain Loz Blain Loz has been one of our most versatile contributors since 2007, and has since proven himself as a photographer, videographer, presenter, producer and podcast engineer, as well as a senior features writer. Joining the team as a motorcycle specialist, he's covered just about everything for New Atlas, concentrating lately on eVTOLs, hydrogen, energy, aviation, audiovisual, weird stuff and things that go fast. Most Viewed * The Metl road/gravel tire, pictured here without its replaceable tread Bicycles NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for purchase * Team AMZ has absolutely smashed the world EV acceleration record, reaching 100 km/h in less than one second Automotive 0-100 km/h in less than a second: Swiss EV team destroys world record * The M1 Abrams main battle tank Military US Army fast tracks Abrams main battle tank modernization Load More 9 comments Sign in to post a comment. Please keep comments to less than 150 words. No abusive material or spam will be published. David F September 13, 2023 01:30 AM Why does their diagram use kg as a unit of force. WONKY KLERKY September 13, 2023 02:20 AM Noted: 1: ref Even/especially small shipping: Arrangements to keep them even more, (than vertical mast rigs). clear needed for the obvious reasons. + 2: ref Ye swinging counter weight: Needs containing / buffering / keeping well off mast. + 3: ref 'its innovative single-blade turbine': Errrrrrr etc . . .... It is a single rotor, 2 bladed etc (Donations to the Pedants Relief Fund please). Bob Stuart September 13, 2023 04:38 AM How to invent a kite in gentle stages. . . pbethel September 13, 2023 07:34 AM As with all ocean based wind turbines the sound signatures effect on marine life needs to be investigated, Lay observations so far indicate substantial harm. kwalispecial September 13, 2023 08:22 AM This seems like a great idea. It appears to work like an auto-gyro, but instead of forward motion generating the airspeed to lift up the auto-gyro, the wind is generating the lift to tilt itself away when the speeds get too high. I hope it all works out for them! David Ingram September 13, 2023 08:51 AM It's good to see some KISS tech applied. clay September 13, 2023 09:03 AM Wow. The guy who **ACTUALLY** invented this method/design is actually from Minden, Nevada (America). More than 30 years ago. He got zero traction from the big turbine manufactures he pitched to. This guy even deployed them to power an entire village in Indonesia. Aermaco September 13, 2023 09:16 AM I would expect there may be more designs that are combining the WWW tilted axis double set of turbines concept with this fixed "autogyro kite like" system? Maybe add helical shapes to the wings for less sound waves and also study dihedral swept up wings like WWW's compared to and or with the flat more efficient wings of Touchwind. The anchored and floating concepts with self regulating continuous power in storms might also have wave energy systems added for double duty in cost with the floatation and anchor materials. jzj September 13, 2023 11:54 AM Tell me more about the rotor bearing that must handle huge angular forces. Saving comment... [ ] Post New Atlas logo GET OUR NEWSLETTER Over 220,000 people receive our email newsletter. Get your daily dose of extraordinary ideas! 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