Hurricane Lee’s path up the Eastern Seaboard highlights the vulnerability of massive offshore wind projects in development that powerful storms could slam someday.
Scientists have warned that hurricane-force winds could destroy the blades and buckle the supporting towers of offshore wind farms. Under President Biden’s renewable energy goals, the wind farms will provide 30 gigawatts, or enough to power 10 million homes, by 2030.
Lee is forecast to miss a direct strike at the U.S. coastline, but a westward wobble would put the storm on the path where thousands of wind turbines are slated for development.
A research paper published last month warned that a hurricane could wipe out some of those turbines.
Wind conditions near the eyewall of a Category 1, 2 or 3 hurricane “can exceed current design standards for offshore wind turbines,” scientists wrote in the Aug. 9 Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
The paper’s authors warned that wind shear and vertical variations in wind direction across the turbine rotor are large for hurricanes of any strength and “wind conditions in high-intensity storms can be more severe than expected.” The group concluded that current offshore wind turbine design standards do not account for veer, the vertical variation in wind direction.
A 2017 study found that offshore wind turbines built to current standards would incur structural damage if hit by a Category 5 hurricane, which can bring gusts of 223 miles per hour.
“Design standards or expected turbine lifetimes should be modified to account for extreme conditions within a hurricane, if the probability of a direct eyewall strike is deemed likely in the wind farm location,” said the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters.
A 2012 study warned of a substantial risk that hurricanes of Category 3 and stronger could destroy half of offshore wind turbines in certain locations.
Strong winds and rough surf from Hurricane Lee are likely to impact Cape Cod and the islands, where an offshore wind project is under construction 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, and along Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, where a small wind farm is up and running.
Most wind turbines are designed to withstand 60-foot waves, sustained winds of 112 mph for up to 10 minutes and gusts up to 156 mph. Few offshore wind farms have been tested by intense hurricanes.
Offshore wind advocates point out that hurricanes also threaten oil derricks and most of the nation’s wind projects have held up to powerful storms.
Block Island’s six turbines survived 70 mph winds during a winter storm in 2017, and two onshore wind farms in Texas were left relatively undamaged from Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm.
Harvey passed east of the Texas wind turbines, sparing them from the most destructive winds.
At a recent House hearing, Rep. Christopher Smith, New Jersey Republican, questioned Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Liz Klein about the impact of a Category 2 or 3 hurricane on the 3,400 offshore wind turbines planned along the Jersey shore.
Unable to answer, Ms. Klein promised to provide the information to Mr. Smith. More than four months later, the lawmaker hasn’t received a response to the question.
A spokesperson for Ms. Klein told The Washington Times that offshore wind turbines must adhere to International Electrotechnical Commission standards, “which require that the turbines are designed to withstand a 500-year hurricane condition, which can be considered closer to Category 2/3 hurricanes in the U.S. Northeast.”
The Times asked three energy companies developing offshore wind projects along the East Coast, including Orsted, which is building the massive New Jersey offshore project, about the survivability of their equipment in hurricane-force winds.
One responded.
A spokesman for GE Vernova, which is manufacturing the equipment for the Vineyard Wind farm, said the Haliade-X turbines designed for the project are engineered to withstand wind conditions “they may encounter at the site.”
The spokesman said an independent expert “certified that they are able to reliably withstand the typhoons and hurricane strength winds that are likely to affect the turbines within their lifetime.”
Storm impact is factoring into offshore wind projects along the Gulf Coast, where hurricanes strike more frequently than along the northeastern and mid-Atlantic seaboard.
Gulf Wind Technology and Shell New Energies U.S. are developing “hurricane-proof” wind turbines specifically for deployment in the Gulf of Mexico as soon as 2024.
The project dovetails with Biden administration efforts to jump-start Gulf Coast offshore wind projects.
Last month, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, but only two companies made bids.
Offshore wind company executives blame the lukewarm response on the challenges facing Gulf Coast wind farms, including potential damage from hurricanes and typically lower regular wind speeds than those generated along the Eastern Seaboard.
The offshore wind industry has been hobbled by supply chain issues and inflation, which have significantly driven up development and construction costs.
Offshore wind turbines are designed to shut down in winds greater than 55 mph to protect them from damage. A wind farm could be destroyed if a powerful hurricane’s stronger right eyewall passes over.
It happened in September 2017, when Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds.
The strongest part of the storm passed over the Punta Lima Wind Farm, located on land near the shoreline. It significantly damaged all 13 turbines, ripping off blades and snapping one of the towers in two. A second wind farm on a part of the island that sustained only Category 1 winds was not significantly damaged.
Mr. Smith wants the Biden administration to examine how hurricanes could affect the extensive wind farm projects it has authorized along the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast to determine the damage that could be caused by storms like Sandy, which hit New Jersey in 2012 with Category 3 wind speeds as high as 115 mph, causing more than $70 billion in damage.
“One can only imagine how these enormous wind turbines would have fared,” he said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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