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TU Delft Researcher Studies Possibility of Hydraulic Offshore Wind Farm

April 4, 2017

For his doctorate awarded on Tuesday, 4 April, TU Delft researcher Antonio Jarquin Laguna investigated the possibility of a ‘hydraulic’ offshore wind farm.

Image source: TU Delft

The concept involves the direct drive mechanism of the wind turbine being replaced by a positive displacement pump, which is used to bring pressurised seawater into a hydraulic network.

Antonio Jarquin Laguna investigated the idea of centralised electricity production in a wind farm for which only a few high-capacity generators are necessary. For this, he explored a new way of generating, combining and transmitting wind energy within an offshore wind farm with no intermediate electrical conversion until the energy has reached the central offshore platform.

It is done by means of water technology. In the proposed concept, the conventional gearbox or direct drive mechanism of the wind turbine is replaced by a positive displacement pump, which is used to bring pressurised seawater into a hydraulic network. The water is brought together under high pressure from the wind turbines in the wind farm and fed back to the central offshore platform, where electricity is generated by a so-called Pelton turbine.

Jarquin Laguna conducted simulations of a hypothetical hydraulic wind farm subjected to turbulent wind conditions. The performance of individual turbines was compared to those of a wind farm with conventional technology turbines, with the same layout and environmental conditions.

The results indicate that the hydraulic wind farm is able to achieve a satisfactory performance despite the introduction of turbulent wind conditions and wake effects.

Find out more on TU Delft’s website.

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