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Not an expert, but the blades are already tricky to transport on land. If they keep increasing in length, it might be only feasible to transport them via ship o
by patrickk 5y ago
Not an expert, but the blades are already tricky to transport on land. If they keep increasing in length, it might be only feasible to transport them via ship or transport helicopter. There’s a new planned wind turbine factory on the coast of north east England where they can pump out turbines and deliver via ship.
- Symbiote 5y agoAren't most / all turbine blade factories already on the coast? It's an obvious location when most will be deployed in the North Sea.
- bluGill 5y agoTurbine factories are near where the wind farms are for shipping reasons. For offshore wind you need to be at a good port so you can get the blades directly to a ship. For inland wind farms you locate near where someone is willing to make a long term commitment to buy your windmills. I have no idea what current numbers are, but I expect long term most factories will be inland and produce wind turbines of a size that is limited by local transport roads/laws. At sea might be better, but one factory can produce windmills for any ocean in the world. Inland shipping is far more expensive and so we need more factories scattered around. If your country is near the sea then off-shore wind is best. However a lot of land isn't close enough to the sea to make off-shore practical and so they need a different option.
- leoedin 5y agoThe biggest turbines stopped being land based years ago. Onshore wind caps out around 6 MW, while offshore wind is pushing 16 MW. There's just no practical way to handle these huge turbines (and their massive blades) onshore.