According to the US government, wind farms off the Pacific coast could produce 900 gig watts of electricity every year.Unfortunately,the water there is far too deep for even the tallest windmills(see picture)to touch bottom. An experiment under way off the coast of Norway,however,could help put them anywhere.
The project, called Hywind,is the world’s first large-scale deepwater wind turbine(涡轮发电机).Although it uses a fairly standard 152-ton,2.3-megawatt turbine,Hywind represents totally new technology. The turbine will be fixed 213 feet above the water on a floating spar(see picture),a technology Hywind’s creator,the Norwegian company StatoilHydro,has developed recently. The steel spar, which is filled with stones and goes 328 feet below the sea surface, will be tied to the ocean floor by three cable(缆索)；these will keep the spar stable and prevent the turbine from moving up and down in the waves.Hywind’s stability(稳定性)in the cold and rough sea would prove that even the deepest corners of the ocean are suitable for wind power. If all goes according to plan, the turbine will start producing electricity six miles off the coast of southwestern Norway as early as September.
To produce electricity on a large scale, a commercial wind farm will have to use bigger turbines than Hywind does, but it’s difficult enough to balance such a large turbine so high on a floating spar in the middle of the ocean. To make that turbine heavier, the whole spar’s to design a new kind of wind turbine, one whose gearbox(变速箱) sits at sea level rather than behind the blades (see picture )
Hywind is a test run, but the benefits for perfecting floating wind-farm technology could be extremely large. Out at sea, the wind is often stronger and steadier than close to shore, where all existing offshore windmills are planted. Deep-sea farms are invisible from land, which helps overcome the windmill-as-eyesore objection. If the technology catches on, it will open up vast areas of the planet’s surface to one of the best low-carbon power sources available.
据美国政府公布,太平洋海岸外的离岸风电场每年可产生900兆瓦的电力.可惜是海的深度太深,即使是最高的风电机（见图）也到不了海的底部.但在挪威的离岸正进行著一个实验,可以把离岸风电机装在的任何地方.
该项目被称为漂浮式风电机组（Hywind）,是世界上第一个大型的深水漂浮风力涡轮发电机.虽然它采用了比较标准的152吨,发电量为2.3兆瓦的涡轮机,Hywind代表着崭新的技术.涡轮机安装在一座浮动的平台上,塔体水面高度213英尺（见图）,最近由挪威国家石油海德罗公司 (StatoilHydro）研发.其安装在内置石块的钢铁支架,深入海底达328英尺,并由三根钢缆固定在海床之上,将平台保持稳定,及以防涡轮机被波浪推动作上下摆动.Hywind风电机证明能在寒冷及恶劣的海洋环境中保持稳定性,甚至适用于水深极深的角落.假若一切能按计划进行,涡轮机最快可在9月初,在离挪威西南海岸6英里之处开始发电.
大规模风力发电,需要使用比Hywind更大型的商业化的风力涡轮机,但是,大型的涡轮机难以在漂浮于海洋中的平台上平衡.为了增加涡轮机的重量,整座平台的设计须配合新型的风力涡轮机,变速箱会安装在水的平面上,而非叶片的背后（见图）.
Hywind目前仍处于试验阶段,但完善漂浮式风电技术将带来极大效益.在海中心的风力一般都比靠近岸边强而稳定,现有的离岸风电机都装在近岸.在近岸看不见深海风电场,这有助于减少因美观而反对设置离岸风电机的声音.假若这项技术得到普及,它能以广大的地球表面提供予拓展最上成的低碳能源之用.
