There’s a new wind plant inaugurated weeks ago close to the Norwegian fjord Åmøy. It has a turbine of 2,3W, a tower 65 m high, rotors with 80 meters, a weight of 5300 tonnes and...it is floating. The turbine was installed by the Norwegian company StatoilHydro, which is the result of the merge between a renewable energy company and Statoil, a petroleum company.

Curiously, the origin of the plant design of the project comes from Statoil’s experience in the oil sector (maritime oil platforms). But the plant, baptized as Hywind, is just a prototype wind plant to be tested in the next two years.

The aim of the testing will be to optimize this type of maritime wind plant in such a way that in the future they can effectively contribute to a significant production of clean energy. It will mainly be studied the mode in which the wind and waves affect the structure. Currently, the investment on the project amounts to already around 45 million Euros.

Naturally, these types of projects are interesting for countries like Portugal with an 800 km long shore. But the Hywind still presents some technical shortcomings which may conditionate its use and economic viability in locations other than the one chosen now.

For example, the depth of the sea must be between 120m and 700 m. The distance to the shore has to be the shortest possible to avoids energy losses. In the Portuguese case, the economic viability  started to be studied  only a few months ago, included in the project  Wind@sea , financed by the gas and petrol company “Galp energia” for purposes of identifying, selecting and characterizing installation sites for wind parks in the sea, considering the technical and environmental restrictions. The consortium responsible for the project includes public entities like the National Laboratory of Energy and Geology, the Hydrographic Institute and the national Institute of Engineering and Industrial Management.

In the short term, we will be able to estimate with more accuracy the viability of the wind plants along the Portuguese shore, which in his turn may be a stimulus to shared known-how and implement similar projects along other littoral regions across Europe, thus contributing for lowering of carbon emissions. This is not only needed to lower the levels of pollution but also economically crucial in Europe.

New jobs and opportunities, so much currently needed, may also come together.

An extra help for the kick-off of the “new economy” and eco-socialism?

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