Offshore Wind Power | Home
As part of the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, we conduct research and teaching on offshore wind power. We are interdisciplinary, with a primary administrative home in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, but with strong links to the College of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering), Center for Composite Materials, and others. This site describes our research, teaching, and public testimony, gives an introduction to some offshore wind concepts and tools, and describes the contracted Delaware offshore wind projects.
Events and News
TWO RECENT ARTICLES IN THE NEWS:Two new articles co-authored by the UD wind group address often asked questions: How much wind power can we extract? and Can fluctuating wind provide the steady power we need?
World wind power resources
How much wind power is available in the world? Will too many wind turbines slow down the wind and cause climate change? A recently published study co-authored by UD's Cristina Archer shows that there is enough wind power potential for all human energy needs several times over before the wind is appreciably slowed. Jacobson, Mark Z. and Cristina L. Archer, 2012, Saturation wind power potential and its implications for wind energy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1208993109v1-6, published doi: 10.1073/pnas.1208993109, may require payment. Preprint link. See some of the news coverage of the study findings at: Ars Technica, Scientific American, and Daily Mail.
Running a region on wind and solar
Given that there is enough wind power for all human needs (see above), can fluctuations of wind (and solar) be managed to provide steady power? A new study on integration of wind, solar and storage is about to be published: Budischak, Cory, DeAnna Sewell, Heather Thomson, Leon Mach, Dana E. Veron, and Willett Kempton, 2013, Cost-minimized combinations of wind power, solar power, and electrochemical storage, powering the grid up to 99.9% of the time, Journal of Power Sources, 225(2013), 60-74. Published doi: 10.1016/j,jpowsour.2012.09.054, and post-publications corrections, both are open access, meaning anyone can download without payment. Our PDF contains the article together with the correction page. Also see some of the news coverage of the study's findings: Science Daily, Discovery News, Scientific American, Ars Technica, Grist and Midwest Energy News.
Other news
The program has grown dramatically over the past several years. See the current funded research projects, expanded faculty, and new research facilities (all from bars on left side).
The University of Delaware/Gamesa 2-megawatt land-based wind turbine was erected during the spring of 2010, and was formally commissioned in June 2010. Since that time it has been providing the power needed to run the entire Lewes Campus with some left over to sell back to the City of Lewes. It most importantly serves as a research tool for faculty and students. For more information on the turbine, see the page on “Research facilities”, and for the current status of the turbine itself, visit the website.