OWC Pilot Projects
In order to demonstrate serious intent to develop the Offshore Wind Collaborative (OWC), initiate work in key known areas of interest and engage the Massachusetts institutions in the development of the Framework, MTC, GE and the U.S. Department of Energy agreed to fund a set of pilot projects representative of the kinds of initiatives OWC would undertake once established. The Massachsuetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Massachusetts (UMass), and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) worked cooperatively to develop 6 pre-proposals which: 1) emphasize joint work among the institutions; and 2) demonstrate the broad intention of OWEC to target areas beyond fundamental questions of engineering to include important environmental and public policy concerns.
The final reports of the funded pilot projects can be accessed below:
Geotechnical Considerations for Offshore
Wind Turbines
Zachary J. Westgate and Jason T. DeJong
August 1, 2005
This report focuses primarily on the site condition assessment and
foundation modeling, design, and to a lesser extent, the installation aspects required for successful development of an offshore wind farm.
Economic and Environmental Performance
of Potential Northeast Offshore Wind Energy Resources
Michael Berlinski and Stephen Connors
Analysis Group for Regional Energy Alternatives
Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
December 31, 2005
This project focused on gathering and assessing offshore wind resource
information along the Northeastern United States coast, and evaluating the
potential economic and environmental performance of these resources.
This project addresses fundamental economic and environmental issues related to
the costs and benefits of deep-water offshore wind for New England. It identifies
key performance thresholds including cost, and quantifies the variability of the
offshore wind regime. It also highlights areas for further research needed to
refine and extend these and other performance metrics.
Offshore Wind Farm Layout Optimization (OWFLO)
Project: Preliminary Results
Christopher N. Elkinton, James F. Manwell, and Jon G. McGowan
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The objective of the project is to pinpoint the major economic hurdles present for
offshore wind farm developers by creating an analysis tool that unites offshore turbine
micrositing criteria with efficient optimization algorithms. This tool will then be used to
evaluate the effects of factors such as distance from shore and water depth on the economic
feasibility of offshore wind energy.
Wind Turbine Underwater Noise and Marine Mammals: Implications of Current Knowledge and Data Needs
P. T. Madsen, M. Wahlberg, J. Tougaard, K. Lucke, andP. Tyack
This paper reviews the existing literature and assesses zones of impact from different noise-generating activities in conjunction with wind farms on representative shallow-water species of marine mammals.
Legal And Regulatory Framework for Siting Offshore Wind Energy Facilities
P. Hoagland, M.E. Schumacher, H.L. Kite-Powell, and J.A. Duff
This study is designed to help clarify national and local decisions about the siting of wind
power generating facilities in the US coastal ocean. Our