IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i23p8000-d691891.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Floating Offshore Vertical Axis Wind Turbines: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward

Author

Listed:
  • Abel Arredondo-Galeana

    (Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0LZ, UK)

  • Feargal Brennan

    (Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0LZ, UK)

Abstract

The offshore wind sector is expanding to deep water locations through floating platforms. This poses challenges to horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) due to the ever growing size of blades and floating support structures. As such, maintaining the structural integrity and reducing the levelised cost of energy (LCoE) of floating HAWTs seems increasingly difficult. An alternative to these challenges could be found in floating offshore vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). It is known that VAWTs have certain advantages over HAWTs, and in fact, some small-scale developers have successfully commercialised their onshore prototypes. In contrast, it remains unknown whether VAWTs can offer an advantage for deep water floating offshore wind farms. Therefore, here we present a multi-criteria review of different aspects of VAWTs to address this question. It is found that wind farm power density and reliability could be decisive factors to make VAWTs a feasible alternative for deep water floating arrays. Finally, we propose a way forward based on the findings of this review.

Suggested Citation

  • Abel Arredondo-Galeana & Feargal Brennan, 2021. "Floating Offshore Vertical Axis Wind Turbines: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:23:p:8000-:d:691891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/23/8000/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/23/8000/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Artigao, Estefania & Martín-Martínez, Sergio & Honrubia-Escribano, Andrés & Gómez-Lázaro, Emilio, 2018. "Wind turbine reliability: A comprehensive review towards effective condition monitoring development," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1569-1583.
    2. Eriksson, Sandra & Bernhoff, Hans & Leijon, Mats, 2008. "Evaluation of different turbine concepts for wind power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 1419-1434, June.
    3. Martin, Rebecca & Lazakis, Iraklis & Barbouchi, Sami & Johanning, Lars, 2016. "Sensitivity analysis of offshore wind farm operation and maintenance cost and availability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1226-1236.
    4. Howell, Robert & Qin, Ning & Edwards, Jonathan & Durrani, Naveed, 2010. "Wind tunnel and numerical study of a small vertical axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 412-422.
    5. Rodrigues, S. & Restrepo, C. & Kontos, E. & Teixeira Pinto, R. & Bauer, P., 2015. "Trends of offshore wind projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1114-1135.
    6. Wang, Shifeng & Wang, Sicong & Smith, Pete, 2015. "Ecological impacts of wind farms on birds: Questions, hypotheses, and research needs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 599-607.
    7. Möllerström, Erik & Gipe, Paul & Beurskens, Jos & Ottermo, Fredric, 2019. "A historical review of vertical axis wind turbines rated 100 kW and above," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 1-13.
    8. Li, Liang & Liu, Yuanchuan & Yuan, Zhiming & Gao, Yan, 2018. "Wind field effect on the power generation and aerodynamic performance of offshore floating wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 379-390.
    9. Islam, M.R. & Mekhilef, S. & Saidur, R., 2013. "Progress and recent trends of wind energy technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 456-468.
    10. Fabian Vorpahl & Holger Schwarze & Tim Fischer & Marc Seidel & Jason Jonkman, 2013. "Offshore wind turbine environment, loads, simulation, and design," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(5), pages 548-570, September.
    11. Zanon, Alessandro & De Gennaro, Michele & Kühnelt, Helmut, 2018. "Wind energy harnessing of the NREL 5 MW reference wind turbine in icing conditions under different operational strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 760-772.
    12. Islam, Mazharul & Ting, David S.-K. & Fartaj, Amir, 2008. "Aerodynamic models for Darrieus-type straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 1087-1109, May.
    13. Laura, Castro-Santos & Vicente, Diaz-Casas, 2014. "Life-cycle cost analysis of floating offshore wind farms," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 41-48.
    14. Tjiu, Willy & Marnoto, Tjukup & Mat, Sohif & Ruslan, Mohd Hafidz & Sopian, Kamaruzzaman, 2015. "Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine for power generation II: Challenges in HAWT and the opportunity of multi-megawatt Darrieus VAWT development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 560-571.
    15. Cheng, Zhengshun & Madsen, Helge Aagaard & Gao, Zhen & Moan, Torgeir, 2017. "A fully coupled method for numerical modeling and dynamic analysis of floating vertical axis wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 604-619.
    16. Su, Jie & Li, Yu & Chen, Yaoran & Han, Zhaolong & Zhou, Dai & Zhao, Yongsheng & Bao, Yan, 2021. "Aerodynamic performance assessment of φ-type vertical axis wind turbine under pitch motion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    17. Hand, Brian & Kelly, Ger & Cashman, Andrew, 2021. "Aerodynamic design and performance parameters of a lift-type vertical axis wind turbine: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Hansen, Joachim Toftegaard & Mahak, Mahak & Tzanakis, Iakovos, 2021. "Numerical modelling and optimization of vertical axis wind turbine pairs: A scale up approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1371-1381.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Micallef, 2023. "Advancements in Offshore Vertical Axis Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-3, February.
    2. Mahmoud G. Hemeida & Ashraf M. Hemeida & Tomonobu Senjyu & Dina Osheba, 2022. "Renewable Energy Resources Technologies and Life Cycle Assessment: Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-36, December.
    3. Arredondo-Galeana, Abel & Olbert, Gerrit & Shi, Weichao & Brennan, Feargal, 2023. "Near wake hydrodynamics and structural design of a single foil cycloidal rotor in regular waves," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1020-1035.
    4. Subbulakshmi, A. & Verma, Mohit & Keerthana, M. & Sasmal, Saptarshi & Harikrishna, P. & Kapuria, Santosh, 2022. "Recent advances in experimental and numerical methods for dynamic analysis of floating offshore wind turbines — An integrated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    5. Shern-Khai Ung & Wen-Tong Chong & Shabudin Mat & Jo-Han Ng & Yin-Hui Kok & Kok-Hoe Wong, 2022. "Investigation into the Aerodynamic Performance of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Endplate Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-26, September.
    6. Małgorzata Jastrzębska, 2022. "Installation’s Conception in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources for the Needs of the Silesian Botanical Garden," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng, H.Y. & Liu, H.J. & Yang, J.H., 2021. "A review on the wake aerodynamics of H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    2. Hand, Brian & Kelly, Ger & Cashman, Andrew, 2021. "Aerodynamic design and performance parameters of a lift-type vertical axis wind turbine: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Lam, H.F. & Peng, H.Y., 2017. "Measurements of the wake characteristics of co- and counter-rotating twin H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 13-26.
    4. Peng, H.Y. & Lam, H.F. & Liu, H.J., 2019. "Power performance assessment of H-rotor vertical axis wind turbines with different aspect ratios in turbulent flows via experiments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 121-132.
    5. Thé, Jesse & Yu, Hesheng, 2017. "A critical review on the simulations of wind turbine aerodynamics focusing on hybrid RANS-LES methods," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 257-289.
    6. Pierre Tchakoua & René Wamkeue & Mohand Ouhrouche & Tommy Andy Tameghe & Gabriel Ekemb, 2015. "A New Approach for Modeling Darrieus-Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Rotors Using Electrical Equivalent Circuit Analogy: Basis of Theoretical Formulations and Model Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-34, September.
    7. Lombardi, Lidia & Mendecka, Barbara & Carnevale, Ennio & Stanek, Wojciech, 2018. "Environmental impacts of electricity production of micro wind turbines with vertical axis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PB), pages 553-564.
    8. Villeneuve, Thierry & Dumas, Guy, 2021. "Impact of some design considerations on the wake recovery of vertical-axis turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 1419-1438.
    9. Chen, Jian & Yang, Hongxing & Yang, Mo & Xu, Hongtao & Hu, Zuohuan, 2015. "A comprehensive review of the theoretical approaches for the airfoil design of lift-type vertical axis wind turbine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1709-1720.
    10. Kumar, Rakesh & Raahemifar, Kaamran & Fung, Alan S., 2018. "A critical review of vertical axis wind turbines for urban applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 281-291.
    11. Daniel Micallef & Gerard Van Bussel, 2018. "A Review of Urban Wind Energy Research: Aerodynamics and Other Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, August.
    12. Hamdan, A. & Mustapha, F. & Ahmad, K.A. & Mohd Rafie, A.S., 2014. "A review on the micro energy harvester in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of biocomposite material for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) system: A Malaysia perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 23-30.
    13. Borg, Michael & Shires, Andrew & Collu, Maurizio, 2014. "Offshore floating vertical axis wind turbines, dynamics modelling state of the art. part I: Aerodynamics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1214-1225.
    14. Lam, H.F. & Peng, H.Y., 2017. "Development of a wake model for Darrieus-type straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbines and its application to micro-siting problems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 830-842.
    15. Chong, Wen-Tong & Muzammil, Wan Khairul & Wong, Kok-Hoe & Wang, Chin-Tsan & Gwani, Mohammed & Chu, Yung-Jeh & Poh, Sin-Chew, 2017. "Cross axis wind turbine: Pushing the limit of wind turbine technology with complementary design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 78-95.
    16. Soledad Le Clainche & Esteban Ferrer, 2018. "A Reduced Order Model to Predict Transient Flows around Straight Bladed Vertical Axis Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, March.
    17. Aslam Bhutta, Muhammad Mahmood & Hayat, Nasir & Farooq, Ahmed Uzair & Ali, Zain & Jamil, Sh. Rehan & Hussain, Zahid, 2012. "Vertical axis wind turbine – A review of various configurations and design techniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 1926-1939.
    18. Greenblatt, David & Lautman, Ronen, 2015. "Inboard/outboard plasma actuation on a vertical-axis wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1147-1156.
    19. Liu, Kan & Yu, Meilin & Zhu, Weidong, 2019. "Enhancing wind energy harvesting performance of vertical axis wind turbines with a new hybrid design: A fluid-structure interaction study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 912-927.
    20. Marinić-Kragić, Ivo & Vučina, Damir & Milas, Zoran, 2018. "Numerical workflow for 3D shape optimization and synthesis of vertical-axis wind turbines for specified operating regimes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 113-127.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:23:p:8000-:d:691891. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.