The world needs hundreds of thousands more offshore wind turbines – where will they all go?: We'll need tens of thousands of new turbines if net-zero targets are to be met. Shaun Wilkinson / Shutterstock To reach net zero, the world may need as many 200,000 offshore wind turbines generating 2,000 gigawatts (GW) of energy. …
How we stop floating wind turbines the size of skyscrapers from drifting away: Hywind Tampen wind farm, Norway. Karoline Rivero Bernacki/Equinor, CC BY-NC-ND Growing demand for cleaner energy sources means offshore wind farms are being built all over the world. More than 5,000 turbines must be installed each year until 2050 to limit global warming …
Wind turbines are already skyscraper-sized – is there any limit to how big they will get?: Fokke Baarssen / Shutterstock In 2023, some 100 miles off the coast of north-east England, the world’s largest wind turbines will start generating electricity. This first phase of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm development uses General Electric’s Haliade X, …
Wind turbines can breathe new life into our warming seas: Ian Dyball / shutterstock Offshore wind is set to move further and further from shore, as demand for renewable energy grows and new floating turbine technology makes deep-water expansion possible. However, for the first time, large areas of the UK continental shelf now open for …
Tidal turbines could generate 11% of the UK’s power – if the government funds this technology: The UK’s annual electricity demand is expected to more than double by 2050. To meet this daunting target without relying on fossil fuels, the government is betting big on wind power – one of the cheapest forms of renewable …
Offshore wind turbines could number 30,000 by 2030 – new ideas in ocean engineering are needed to install them: Nuttawut Uttamaharad/Shutterstock The UK is planning to install 40 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 – enough to provide electricity to every home in the country. This would require 5,000 wind turbines – double the …
Painting wind turbines black could help protect birds – as long as it doesn’t disrupt their migration: Ian Dyball/Shutterstock With climate change threatening many of the world’s species with extinction, a transition from fossil fuels is urgently needed. But some argue that the rush to replace coal power with wind could endanger birds that have …