Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro ASA and compatriot floating wind turbine producer World Wide Wind AS have agreed to collaborate on the use of aluminium in renewable wind industry.
Ultimately the partnership hopes to yield a design for a floating wind turbine specific to offshore conditions. The two firms say they are working toward incorporating recyclable and sustainable materials into the design as well.
Offshore wind turbines are basically identical to those constructed on land with only minor modifications for use in deep water. Hydro and World Wide Wind intend to create a consortium of companies that will utilize aluminium in production of offshore models.
World Wide Wind is designing a special wind turbine meant for deep water that is a major improvement over current technology relative to energy production, scalability, cost, and environmental impact according to the firm’s CEO Trond Lutdal. Such a design offers an opportunity to use aluminium in construction.
The firm says its integrated floating wind turbines can be scaled to up to 2.5 times that of current wind turbines, or 40 MW. Such wind turbines will also incur a much smaller carbon footprint than onshore wind turbines.
For its part, Hydro maintains the idea that aluminium has much to offer a wide swath of industries, including that of wind power generation.
