How Offshore Wind Turbines Work

The structures are marvels of engineering and not only because they are so big.
Loukia Papadopoulos

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Offshore wind turbines are marvelous feats of engineering that provide energy to countless homes. But how do they work?

Well, for the most part, they work just like land wind turbines except they are much bigger. For example, the tallest onshore turbine in the U.S. stands at a height of about 574 feet (175 m) while the offshore Haliade-X by GE is 853 feet (260 m) tall. That’s nearly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty and we can only imagine how big its blades are!

Offshore wind turbines can weigh up to 22,000 tonsPerhaps even more impressive is the fact that studies have found that offshore wind turbines may slow down hurricanes. Researchers from the University of Delaware and Stanford University have shown that the structures might be capable of reducing hurricane wind speeds, wave heights, and storm surges.

More precisely, the teams created a special computer model and found that offshore wind turbines could diminish peak hurricane winds by up to 50% and storm surges by up to 79%. These advantages were achieved by the turbines’ ability to slow the outer rotation winds of the hurricanes. How do they do that? Watch our video to find that out and more.

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