Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cost, more power

Re:Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cos... by Terr_ on Sunday September 17, 2023 @03:14AM (#37542346)

> The worry here is low winds and high waves.

Do you mean that the barely-rotating blade would dip into the oncoming wave-front and get snapped?

I imagine that depends on whether "waves without wind" are likely to occur, and whether we can expect waves sizes/shaped so that they clip the blade itself before their rising edge hits the buoy to bump the blade upwards.

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Re:Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cos... by naasking on Sunday September 17, 2023 @10:14AM (#37545286)

Or hits anything that might be passing by, like a boat.

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Re:Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cos... by Terr_ on Sunday September 17, 2023 @05:01PM (#37549271)

As with lighthouses, I'm pretty sure that would be the boat's fault for recklessly approaching anywhere that close to the giant well-marked stationary field of tethered obstacles in the first place.

If it's someone doing authorized maintenance, they will probably have a rule "do not approach from the blade-side." If the wind is changing that strongly and unpredictably, then it's already a dangerously bad time to do maintenance.

[ Parent | on HN ]