We at Sustainable Structures Group are focused on innovating in the offshore wind turbine space. Since towers and foundations (or floating platforms) account for nearly half of the cost of an offshore turbine built with existing technology, and are hard to fabricate and transport, substituting lighter structures can substantially reduce levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and permit widespread manufacturing.
Our patent-pending shallow-draft floating platform, supporting a spread-base tower, offers benefits such as easy quayside erection, easy and rapid installation, passive wind yawing, and simplified drivetrain.
Problems with Conventional Designs
- Cost: $4.4M/MW for fixed offshore turbines, need subsidies to deliver competitive electricity; current floating turbine designs cost even more
- Infrastructure: U.S. doesn’t have the factories, ports, and installation ships to support current designs
- Rate: More than 100 years to displace 25% of of current electricity consumption in the US at currently planned installation rates
Our Design
The US's offshore wind energy capacity is vast, but there remain hurdles to realizing its full potential. To capture this market, we must imagine a new turbine that can be locally manufactured, easily deployed, viable at a variety of depths, and delivered at a price that is competitive with fossil fuels, without subsidy.
Meet the Team
Andrew T. Myers
- Licensed professional engineer
- Stanford PhD in structural engineering
- Tenured professor at Northeastern University
- 8 years experience in offshore wind energy
- 15 years experience in large-scale structural testing and analysis
- Sabbatical appointment at Danish Technical University (DTU Wind Energy) in 2018
