On Sunday, December 4, 2011, the demonstration test of offshore wind farming started, when a floating structure (18 meters in diameter) equipped with two units of Wind-Lens turbines and solar panels was installed about 650 meters offshore in Hakata Bay. Kyushu University has been undertaking “Technology development on the introduction of innovative small and medium-sized Wind-Lens turbine systems” (led by Professor Yuji Ohya of the Kyushu University, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics), which is a program for development of technologies to prevent global warming technology sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment. The objective of the demonstration test is to promote offshore wind power farming as part of the research project. The floating structure was set afloat on November 30. At 9 a.m. on December 4, the hexagon structures (18 meters in diameter and approximately 140 tons in weight) equipped with Wind-Lens turbines, solar panels, and the control system left Island City in Higashi Ward for the mooring point, which is located about 650 meters offshore in Hakata Bay, being towed by a towing vessel. The mooring operation with anchors went smoothly, being watched by the leader of the project, Professor Ohya and Professor Yusaku Kyozuka of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences who are in charge of the wind power generation and the floating structure respectively. In the afternoon, the installation of two units of Wind-Lens turbines (3.4 meters in diameter and 3 kW in output) was completed when the world’s first demonstration test of the off-shore floating integrated energy farm got started undertaken by Kyushu University. For more information, please visit the special website of the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics (RIAM), the Wind Engineering Section of the Division of Renewable Energy Dynamics.
Top: The floating structure after installation Middle: The floating structure being towed Bottom: The Wind-Lens turbines being set up
|