By Alex Kimani - Mar 02, 2025,
China’s Dongfang Electric Corporation has rolled out a 26-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine, the world’s largest in both capacity and size.
Dongfang Electric Corp: The turbine boasts a blade wheel diameter of more than 310 meters.
One of these giants is capable of generating 100 GWh of power annually with average winds of 10 meters per second, enough to power 55,000 homes.
Last year, China’s renewable energy sales and investments hit a record 13.6tn yuan ($1.9tn), dwarfing the global fossil fuel funding total of $1.12 trillion. China’s installed capacity for renewable energy, including wind and solar, reached 1,410 gigawatts, surpassing coal. China has become especially dominant in solar energy manufacturing, having invested 10 times more than Europe in wafer-to-solar panel production lines and controls ~95% of the world’s polysilicon and wafers. China is, however, equally dominant in wind energy and currently operates almost half of the world's installed offshore wind turbines, with 26 GW of a total of 54 GW worldwide. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that Asia’s largest economy is also home to some of the most impressive feats of engineering in the renewable energy sector. China’s Dongfang Electric Corporation has rolled out a 26-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine, the world’s largest in both capacity and size. The state-owned manufacturer says the turbine boasts a blade wheel diameter of more than 310 meters (1,107 feet) and a hub height of 185 meters (607 feet). This offshore wind turbine is designed for areas with wind speeds of 8 meters per second and above. One of these giants is capable of generating 100 GWh of power annually with average winds of 10 meters per second, enough to power 55,000 homes. That’s enough to cut standard coal consumption by 30,000 tons and reduce CO2 emissions by 80,000 tons.Related: Petrobras Gears Up for Offshore Boom
The project marks a turning point in the global energy transition. Offshore wind turbines can be built far out at sea, where winds blow harder, making them an ideal solution to the clean energy mix that doesn't take up valuable land.
Trump’s offshore wind energy freeze
Unfortunately, America’s wind energy sector is now officially in limbo in Trump's second term in the Oval Office. In a highly controversial move that sent shockwaves through the clean energy sector, Trump issued an executive order on his first day back in the White House that effectively halted the growth of wind energy in the U.S. The sweeping order freezes approvals for both onshore and offshore projects, pauses offshore wind lease sales and calls for a comprehensive review of existing wind energy leases. This move has created significant uncertainty about the future of wind energy in the U.S., and drawn widespread criticism from environmental groups, industry stakeholders and renewable energy advocates.
The uncertainty is further compounded by the potential economic fallout. Wind power currently supplies 10% of U.S. electricity, and is currently one of the most cost-effective energy sources at approximately $27 per megawatt-hour. In comparison, gas plants have a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of ~$45 per megawatt-hour, while coal plants generate electricity at $69 per megawatt-hour. A suspension of wind energy development is likely to jeopardize this cost advantage, leading to higher energy and electricity prices.
Trump’s disdain for wind energy is well documented. Previously, Trump went on a bizarre tirade, labeling wind turbines as ‘windmills’ and the biggest bird slayers, so his latest stance against wind energy might not have come as a surprise.
That said, offshore wind energy has been a somewhat tough sell in the U.S. The country’s first offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico by the Biden administration in 2023 ended with a paltry $5.6 million winning bid, highlighting just how tough it can be for renewables to gain traction in oil and gas strongholds. Germany's RWE was the winner of rights to 102,480 acres (41,472 hectares) off Louisiana. This marked the lowest winning bid for a federal offshore wind lease at auction since the Obama administration. The other two lease areas on offer off Texas received no bids. The Biden administration had set a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, and the three Gulf leases combined had the potential to deliver more than 10% of that amount.
Although the Gulf’s waters haven’t sprouted any wind turbines yet, there are several reasons why the Gulf of Mexico is a perfect fit as an offshore wind hub.
First off, the Gulf Coast also has an abundance of companies and workers with decades of experience in producing energy offshore. According to the Energy Information Administration, Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 15% of total U.S. crude oil production. Major fields include Eugene Island block 330 oil field, Atlantis Oil Field, and the Tiber oilfield (discovered 2009) while notable oil platforms include Baldpate, Bullwinkle, Mad Dog, Magnolia, Mars, Petronius, and Thunder Horse.
“We have a really mature base for energy. We’ve got the know-how,” Lefton said. The people, the companies, the manufacturers that know how to do [Outer Continental Shelf] energy development are in the Gulf of Mexico,” the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Amanda Lefton has told Politico.
According to Hayes Framme, government relations manager for North America at Danish wind giant Ørsted A/S (OTCPK:DNNGY), the Gulf’s existing oil and gas infrastructure represents “a historic expertise.”
“One of the things that makes the Gulf area attractive is the fact that you’ve got a workforce that is accustomed to working on rigs in the ocean. It’s not like you have to build an industry. What you have to do here is basically help an existing industry evolve,’’ Dennis Arriola, CEO of the renewable energy company Avangrid Inc. (NYSE:AGR), has said.
Michael Hecht, the president and CEO of Greater New Orleans, says jobs in the Gulf’s traditional oil and gas industry have declined during the past decade, creating a sense of urgency to make a transition that allows people to retain their skills.
The Gulf could also become an important hydrogen hub, with wind power being used to generate green hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industries such as long-haul trucking, fertilizer manufacturing and aviation.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
Penn Undergraduate Solves Century-Old Wind Energy Problem
By Haley Zaremba - Mar 01, 2025
A Penn State student refined a century-old math problem, originally published in 1935, that determines the optimal aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine.
The student's work improves upon the original problem by including previously unconsidered elements such as total force and moment coefficients impacting the rotor’s movements.
Improving the power coefficient of a large wind turbine by just 1% can significantly increase its energy production, potentially powering an entire neighborhood.
It’s a turbulent time for wind energy. The sector is virtually paralyzed in the United States due to what seems to be Donald Trump’s personal vendetta against wind turbines, and the offshore wind industry is facing catastrophic delays and soaring costs thanks to inflation, high interest rates, and supply chain problems.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the wind industry – a mathematical breakthrough thanks to a Penn State engineering student may have just paved the way for a new generation of more efficient wind turbines. Amazingly, Divya Tyagi refined and improved a century-old math problem determining the optimal aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine in her undergraduate thesis for Schreyer Honors College.
“Tyagi's work expands research in aerodynamics, unlocking new possibilities in wind turbine design that Hermann Glauert, a British aerodynamicist and the original author, did not consider,” Tech Xplore reported this week.
"I created an addendum to Glauert's problem which determines the optimal aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine by solving for the ideal flow conditions for a turbine in order to maximize its power output," said Tyagi, who is now a graduate student pursuing her master's degree in aerospace engineering.
Glauert’s problem, published in 1935, provides a mathematical formula to determine blade element momentum by “considering the effects of blade design ie. shape, section, twist, etc. Blade element theory models the rotor as a set of isolated two-dimensional blade elements to which we can then apply 2-dimensional aerodynamic theory individually and then perform an integration to find thrust and torque.”
But Tyagi found that there are additional critical elements that Glauert did not consider. Namely, he failed to take into account the total force and moment coefficients impacting the rotor’s movements, or the ways in which turbine blades bend in the wind.
"If you have your arms spread out and someone presses on your palm, you have to resist that movement," Tyagi’s adviser Sven Schmitz told Tech Xplore. "We call that the downwind thrust force and the root bending moment, and wind turbines must withstand that, too. You need to understand how large the total load is, which Glauert did not do."
Glauert’s problem is not the only math equation standing between the current wind power industry and optimal wind turbine design. In fact, the Millennium Prize is currently offering $1 million to anyone who can solve the Navier–Stokes Equation, first formulated in the 19th century. The unsolved mathematical model of fluid dynamics would allow us to reliably predict how air currents, breeze, and turbulence interact, revolutionizing atmospherically-reliant technologies such as wind power.
Establishing a better understanding of the intricacies of wind and weather through mathematical modeling, the better we can design wind turbines and wind farms for more efficient and therefore cheaper wind energy. But the models currently used in the sector lack the sophistication necessary to capture all of these real-world elements accurately. When a 2022 study applied more complicated atmospheric conditions (such as reduced wind at high altitudes) to their model than the more simplistic ones that are typically used, researchers found that the power output of some turbines dropped by as much as 30%.
Improving the efficiency of wind energy technologies would be a critical step toward meeting global climate goals. The globally recognized Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario calls for 7900TWh of wind electricity generation worldwide in 2030. According to the International Energy Agency, this would require an increase in average annual wind power capacity additions to almost 250GW globally.
Tyagi says that her breakthrough is a step in the right direction. "Improving the power coefficient of a large wind turbine by just 1% has significant impacts on the energy production of a turbine, and that translates towards the other coefficients that we derived relations for," she said. "A 1% improvement in power coefficient could notably increase a turbine's energy output, potentially powering an entire neighborhood."
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
France and Spain Lead Europe's Onshore Wind Potential
By Felicity Bradstock - Mar 02, 2025,
Europe generated more power from wind than coal for the first time in Q3 2023, and wind energy production was 20 percent higher than in the same period in 2022.
Larger wind turbines and relaxed regulations have doubled Europe’s potential for commercially viable wind power, with France and Spain having the potential to meet the EU’s 2050 energy demand.
Several European countries, including France, Germany, and the Netherlands, are actively developing wind projects, but government intervention could impact the sector’s growth.
Europe has been steadily ramping up its wind energy capacity in a bid to support a green transition and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. In the last quarter of 2023, the region succeeded in producing more power from wind than coal for the first time, and it has since increased the number of wind farms.
In the Q3 of 2023, Europe generated a record 193 TWh of energy from wind turbines, compared to 184 TWh from coal plants. Wind power production stood at 20 percent higher than in the same period in 2022, despite several challenges contributing to lower-than-expected sectoral growth.
Europe’s wind energy capacity is expected to keep on growing as several governments introduce favourable climate policies and encourage private investors to develop new projects. Larger wind turbines and the relaxation of rules for the distance turbines must be placed from buildings have helped to double Europe’s potential for commercially viable wind power since a previous analysis was carried out seven years ago.
France and Spain alone could produce enough electricity equivalent to meet the EU’s 2050 energy demand forecast of 4,000 TWh, according to researchers at the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The new assessmentsees “substantially higher onshore wind potential” as many EU countries “double their installation capacity,” meaning, “onshore wind can play a much bigger role in the decarbonisation of Europe's energy system than previously thought.” The report states that if deployed to its full potential, onshore wind operations could generate 19,000 TWh of electricity a year in the EU based on current rules.
The strong potential reflects the improvements made in wind turbine technology in recent years. The assessment shows that using 100-metre-high turbines instead of the 80-metre-high models could significantly boost a site’s energy generation capacity. A spokesperson for industry association WindEurope stated, “Bigger, more efficient wind turbines are the key to more electricity generation… reduces the number of turbines in a wind farm by 25 percent, while more than tripling the output of the wind farm.”
Scandinavia, Spain, France, Poland and Romania lead the EU in wind energy potential. While major wind energy-producing countries, such as Germany, have a lower production potential. This suggests that Europe would benefit from the development of cross-border transmission infrastructure to support energy sharing.
Several European countries are already developing wind projects intending to fulfil their potential. In France, 1.4 GW of new wind capacity was installed onshore and 0.5 GW of capacity offshore in 2022, increasing the country’s total wind power capacity to 20.9 GW. In February, Siemens Gamesa commenced construction on its $210 million La Havre factory expansion. The French government is supporting the development under its green industries policy with a 25 percent government tax credit. The extension will allow the company to produce the latest generation of 14 MW turbines for offshore wind projects. The turbines are equipped with 115-meter-long blades and are constructed from fibreglass, reinforced epoxy resin and balsa wood.
Yara Chakhtoura, Siemens Gamesa’s Managing Director for France, stated, “The investment announced today confirms the importance of our French production site as a strategic production facility for the growth of the offshore wind market. We are increasing our capacity by strengthening the skills and infrastructure we already have locally.”
In Germany, a recent report from the German Wind Energy Association and engineering foundation VDMA Power Systems showed that the country achieved record levels of onshore wind energy production in 2024. Germany licensed over 2,400 onshore wind turbines last year, with a combined capacity of more than 14 GW. However, there are fears that the sector’s expansion could be hindered under a new government. Friedrich Merz, the leader of the newly elected centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said last year that he thought wind turbines were “ugly” and hoped they would be dismantled eventually.
Dennis Rendschmidt, the managing director of VDMA Power Systems, stated, “… momentum needs to be kept up by a new federal government.” Rendschmidt added, “All the conditions are really set for future growth.” He suggested that the only thing that may impede sectoral growth is government intervention aimed at slowing expansion.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, wind energy production almost doubled between September 2023 and 2024. This has resulted in periods of surplus energy, with the potential to support green hydrogen production and other projects. Wind is expected to be the biggest source of energy in the Netherlands by 2050, with the government supporting both onshore and offshore wind farm development.
Europe is rapidly expanding its wind energy capacity in pursuit of a green transition. This trend is set to continue as the region aims to decarbonise at a faster pace, as well as reduce reliance on oil, gas, and coal. There is significant potential to develop both onshore and offshore wind across the region, which could ultimately benefit other clean energy sectors, such as green hydrogen.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
Trump's Energy Policies Face Legal Challenges
By Felicity Bradstock - Feb 27, 2025
Environmental groups are increasingly using legal action to challenge President Trump's energy policies, which favor fossil fuels and reverse previous climate initiatives.
The Trump administration's efforts to reduce EPA staff could hinder its ability to weaken regulations, but also negatively impact climate progress.
Lawsuits have been filed to protect existing rules on air pollution and to prevent the reversal of offshore drilling protections enacted by the Biden administration.
As U.S. President Donald Trump rolls back the former government’s renewable energy initiatives in favour of fossil fuels, environmentalists and climate groups are not taking it lying down. Trump said throughout his electoral campaign that he intended to reverse former President Biden’s “green new scam”, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and related climate policies. He doubled down on this promise from his first week in office with the announcement of an “energy emergency” and the signing of executive orders favouring oil, gas, and coal, as well as restricting wind energy developments across the country. While many clean energy project developers are concerned about the shift in policy and the uncertain investment environment, several climate groups are beginning to fight back with legal action.
Environmental groups have increasingly taken to the courts in recent years to fight their cause using legal action. In 2024, an analysis found that Big Oil was facing a rising number of climate-focused lawsuits for their contribution to the climate crisis. The report from Oil Change International and the climate research organization Zero Carbon Analytics found that the number of cases filed against major oil and gas companies annually worldwide had almost tripled since 2015. This trend is set to continue as President Trump introduces a range of energy policies aimed at undoing climate progress and, instead, supporting new oil and gas projects.
In interviews with more than six of the most prominent environmental groups with the New York Times, executives said that some legal challenges could take time to develop, as many of Trump’s orders have not yet been put into action. However, there is a clear intent from several of those interviewed to fight Trump’s energy policies and climate action. Several environmental organisations have already begun to file briefs for cases aiming to protect existing rules on air pollution.
Meanwhile, some organisations are hopeful that Trump will not be able to achieve many of the energy and climate aims stated during his first month in office. The U.S. president has already begun to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal offices, putting 168 employees in its Office of Environmental Justice on leave, and this is thought to be just the beginning. However, massively reducing the number of staff in government agencies could work against Trump’s aims, as it will make it more difficult to rewrite and weaken regulations.
Bethany Davis Noll, the executive director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Centre at New York University School of Law, explained, “To change a rule, an agency has to carefully demonstrate the benefit of the change and respond to public comments, including from industry and environmental groups. Officials in the Biden years put together detailed records to support their rules, she said, and those could prove to be difficult to challenge in court or reverse, even with fully staffed offices.”
However, reducing the number of people working in these departments is also expected to have a detrimental impact on climate progress. “If you don't have people working at the EPA, it's pretty hard to keep the air clean, the water clean,” stated Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Centre for Biological Diversity.
In January, Before the end of his presidential term, Biden moved to protect the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts from offshore oil and gas drilling under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. President Trump is now trying to undo these ocean protections to allow for new oil and gas operations. In February, several environmental organisations launched a lawsuit aimed at stopping Trump from withdrawing the protections.
Martha Collins, the Executive Director of Healthy Gulf, stated, “Protecting the eastern Gulf has long been a bipartisan effort in Florida. President Trump used the same authority as President Biden to protect the eastern Gulf and Florida coastline from offshore oil and gas. President Biden simply made those protections permanent, something President Trump did not do.” Collins added, “Unfortunately, we have to file suit to stand up against the rash and inconsistent policies of the Trump administration to enforce what both Florida Republicans and Democrats have fought for years on. Permanent protections from offshore oil and gas in Florida.”
Sam Sankar, senior vice president at Earthjustice, suggested that legal action will be taken against more of Trump’s recent executive orders. "We are looking at and developing lawsuits aimed at ensuring that the money flows to the intended recipients," Sankar said. In addition, several lawsuits challenging the authority of DOGE are reported to be under development. Although we can expect more climate lawsuits under Trump’s presidency, environmental groups will be biding their time to see whether the executive orders are translated into action, as several of the orders Trump signed during his first term as president never came into effect.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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