AU2020100258A4 - Offshore wind turbines as a cooling mechanism for albedo enhancement - Google Patents

Offshore wind turbines as a cooling mechanism for albedo enhancement Download PDF

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Publication number
AU2020100258A4
AU2020100258A4 AU2020100258A AU2020100258A AU2020100258A4 AU 2020100258 A4 AU2020100258 A4 AU 2020100258A4 AU 2020100258 A AU2020100258 A AU 2020100258A AU 2020100258 A AU2020100258 A AU 2020100258A AU 2020100258 A4 AU2020100258 A4 AU 2020100258A4
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Australia
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wind
albedo
cool
mcb
sea
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AU2020100258A
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John Macdonald
Robert Tulip
Renaud de Richter
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De Richter Renaud Dr
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De Richter Renaud Dr
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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F03D—WIND MOTORS
    • F03D13/00—Assembly, mounting or commissioning of wind motors; Arrangements specially adapted for transporting wind motor components
    • F03D13/20—Arrangements for mounting or supporting wind motors; Masts or towers for wind motors
    • F03D13/25—Arrangements for mounting or supporting wind motors; Masts or towers for wind motors specially adapted for offshore installation
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F03D—WIND MOTORS
    • F03D80/00—Details, components or accessories not provided for in groups F03D1/00 - F03D17/00
    • F03D80/80—Arrangement of components within nacelles or towers
    • F03D80/88—Arrangement of components within nacelles or towers of mechanical components
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F03D—WIND MOTORS
    • F03D9/00—Adaptations of wind motors for special use; Combinations of wind motors with apparatus driven thereby; Wind motors specially adapted for installation in particular locations
    • F03D9/10—Combinations of wind motors with apparatus storing energy
    • F03D9/17—Combinations of wind motors with apparatus storing energy storing energy in pressurised fluids
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F05—INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
    • F05B—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO WIND, SPRING, WEIGHT, INERTIA OR LIKE MOTORS, TO MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS COVERED BY SUBCLASSES F03B, F03D AND F03G
    • F05B2260/00—Function
    • F05B2260/60—Fluid transfer
    • F05B2260/601—Fluid transfer using an ejector or a jet pump
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/70—Wind energy
    • Y02E10/72—Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/70—Wind energy
    • Y02E10/727—Offshore wind turbines

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Sustainable Development (AREA)
  • Sustainable Energy (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Wind Motors (AREA)

Abstract

This invention describes the use of the wind power to generate marine cloud brightening and air micro-bubble to whitening the ocean surface. This innovation involves simple modifications using inexpensive and already existing technologies (pumps, filters, nebulizers, compressors, tanks and diffusers) to transform offshore wind turbines into technologies for albedo enhancement which will not only cool the atmosphere, but can also help to cool the ocean surface. These transformations will not impact the carbon-free electricity generation yield of the wind farms. MCB plume Blades Rotating nacelle Multiple sea water diffusers Tower Microbubble pump Water surface Microbubble plume Diffuser Compressed air tanks Seaf floor

Description

MCB plume
Blades
Rotating nacelle
Multiple sea water diffusers
Tower
Microbubble pump Water surface Microbubble plume
Diffuser Compressed air tanks
Seaffloor
Editorial Note
2020100258
There are four pages of description only
Description
Wind energy has very short energy payback time, often less than one year, calculated by life cycle assessments [1, 2]. To achieve the warming limits of the Paris agreement, cooling technologies are needed to augment renewable energies [3].
This invention involves the conversion or initial installation of devices into offshore wind turbines to disperse Marine Cloud Brightening(MCB) and Bright water hydrosols (MWH) into the sky and ocean to turn wind turbines into albedo enhancement technologies (AETs). Adding MCB and MBs to wind turbine air flows and tidal current flows will increase the albedo reflectivity from marine clouds and the ocean surface to cool down the sea surface, protect coral reefs from bleaching and potentially lower the frequency and intensity of hurricanes.
In order to compensate the intermittency of wind energy and it's average 25% capacity factor (effective operating time) energy storage in the form of compressed air tanks(CAES) are proposed [6], to be located underwater adjacent to offshore wind farm towers.[7,8]. Alternatively, compressed air tanks could be housed inside turbine masts below the sea access platform where personnel access is not required. The high pressure compressed air can be used to produce microbubbles.
The energy to produce nanobubbles is greater than for microbubbles so the optimum bubble size, albedo reflection, life of bubbles, energy consumption should be optimized.
The use of the wind power used to generate marine cloud brightening and air micro-bubble plumes will be a small proportion of the total renewable energy generated. The energy to produce nanobubbles is greater than for microbubbles so the optimum bubble size, albedo reflection, life of bubbles, energy consumption should be optimized.
As illustrated by Figure 1 (Simulated nebulizer and MBH plumes being diffused from off shore turbines. Scroby SandsWind Farm, off Great Yarmouth (image under CC 3.0 License). it is possible to enhance the amount of sea salt brine in the downwind airflow of offshore wind turbines by spraying filtered sea water with the help of pumps and nebulizers.
With the proposed modifications, wind turbines are transformed into AETs, while also producing renewable energy, increasing their contribution to the fight against climate change and global warming. Large offshore wind farms can cool the surface ocean by albedo modification. The effects of spraying a sea water solution into the air flow will enhance this cooling effect through the range of direct and indirect processes.
Figure 2 indicates one possible configuration of an offshore wind turbine with submarine compressor (CAES) tanks, microbubble generators, diffusers, filters and pumps for MCB spraying. generating air micro-bubbles and also spraying salt aerosols.
In order to compensate the intermittency of wind energy and it's average 25% capacity factor (effective operating time) energy storage in the form of compressed air (CAES) has been proposed [6], underwater for offshore farms [7,8]. Alternatively, compressed air tanks could be housed inside turbine masts below the sea access platform where personnel access is not required. The high pressure compressed air can be used to produce microbubbles. The energy to produce nanobubbles is greater than microbubbles. Oceanic foams [9], or bright water hydrosols (BWH) [10],involves microbubbles generated at the surface of water bodies to reflect sunlight.
In order to increase the life span of the microbubbles, natural tensioactive surfactant agents extracted from plankton or algae can be used [10], BWH are expected to be biologically benign.
Dispersion of nebulised MCB sea salts will be achieved by a series of nozzles located around the top of the turbine towers. These nozzles will operate selectively to spray in the direction of windflow ie. downwind away from the turbine tower. They are also angled at 45 degrees to spray past the nacelle housing above. The added presence of sea salts in the surrounding air will not affect metal parts corrosion as the turbines are already adequately designed to resist sea salt corrosion.
References:
1. Bonou, A., A. Laurent, and S.I. Olsen, Life cycle assessment of onshore and offshore wind energy-from theory to application. Applied Energy, 2016.180:p.327-337. 2. Asdrubali, F., et al., Life cycle assessment of electricity production from renewable energies: Review and results harmonization. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015. 42: p. 1113-1122. 3. Hertwich, E., et al., Green Energy Choices: The benefits, risks, and trade offs of low-carbon technologies for electricity production. Report of the International Resource Panel, United Nations Environment Program
( (UNEP), Paris. Accessed 16-01-2019 http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/ 1313277/2016 4. Wang, C. and R.G. Prinn, Potential climatic impacts and reliability of very large-scale wind farms. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2010. 10(4): p.2053-2061. 5. Miller, L.M. and D.W. Keith, Climatic Impacts of Wind Power. Joule, 2018. 2(12): p. 2618-2632. 6. Hasan, N.S., et al., Improving power grid performance using parallel connected Compressed Air Energy Storage and wind turbine system. Renewable Energy, 2016. 96: p. 498-508. 7. Li, B. and J.F. DeCarolis, A techno-economic assessment of offshore wind coupled to offshore compressed air energy storage. Applied Energy, 2015. 155: p. 315-322. 8. Wang, Z., et al., Design and thermodynamic analysis of a multi-level underwater compressed air energy storage system. Journal of Energy Storage, 2016. 5: p. 203-211. 9. Evans, J., et al., Can oceanic foams limit global warming? Climate Research, 2010. 42(2): p. 155-160. Siedersleben, S.K., et al., Micrometeorological impacts of offshore wind farms as seen in observations and simulations. Environmental Research Letters, 2018. 13(12): p.124012. 10. Seitz, R., Bright water: hydrosols, water conservation and climate change. Climatic Change, 2011. 105(3-4): p. 365-381. 11. Wang, C. and R.G. Prinn, Potential climatic impacts and reliability of very large-scale wind farms. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2010. 10(4): p. 2053-2061. 12. Miller, L.M. and D.W. Keith, Climatic Impacts of Wind Power. Joule, 2018. 2(12): p. 2618-2632. 13. Armstrong, A., et al., Ground-level climate at a peatland wind farm in Scotland is affected by wind turbine operation. Environmental Research Letters, 2016. 11(4): p. 044024. 14. Fiedler, B. and M. Bukovsky, The effect of a giant wind farm on precipitation in a regional climate model. Environmental Research Letters 2011. 6(4): p. 045101. 15. Pan, Y., C. Yan, and C.L. Archer, Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms. Environmental Research Letters, 2018. 13(8): p. 084007. 16. Wang, C. and R.G. Prinn, Potential climatic impacts and reliability of large-scale offshore wind farms. Environmental Research Letters, 2011. 6(2): p. 025101 17. de Richter, R., S. Caillol, and T. Ming, Geo-Engineering: sunlight reflection methods and negative emissions technologies for greenhouse gas removal, Chapter 20 in Managing Global Warming, Trevor Letcher, Elsevier. 2018. 18. Latham, J., et al., Marine cloud brightening. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2012. 370(1974): p. 4217-4262. (MCB). Atmospheric Science Letters, 2012. 13(4): p. 231-237. 19. Anderson, K., Duality in climate science. Nature Geoscience, 2016. 8(12): p. 898-900.
20. Cooper, G., et al., A review of some experimental spray methods for marine cloud brightening. International Journal of Geosciences, 2013. 4(01): p. 78. 21. Latham, J., et al., Weakening of hurricanes via marine cloud brightening 22. Dai, K., et al., Environmental issues associated with wind energy-A review. Renewable Energy, 2015. 75: p. 911-921 23. Haszeldine, R.S., et al., Negative emissions technologies and carbon capture and storage to achieve the Paris Agreement commitments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2018. 376(2119): p. 20160447. 24. Anderson, K., Duality in climate science. Nature Geoscience, 2016. 8(12): p. 898-900Sanderson, B.M., B.C. O'Neill, and C. Tebaldi, What would it take to achieve the Paris temperature targets? Geophysical Research Letters, 2016. 43(13): p. 7133-7142. 25. Cooper, G., et al., A review of some experimental spray methods for marine cloud brightening. International Journal of Geosciences, 2013. 4(01): p. 78. 26. Oeste, F.D., et al., Climate engineering by mimicking the natural dust climate control: the Iron Salt Aerosols method. Earth Syst. Dynam., 2017. 8(1): p. 1-54. https://doi.org/ 10.5194/esd-8-1-2017. 27. Salter, S., G. Sortino, and J. Latham, Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2008. 366(1882): p. 3989-4006. 28. Partanen, A.I., et al., Direct and indirect effects of sea spray geoengineering and the role of injected particle size. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2012. 117(D2). 29. Neukermans, A., et al., Sub-micrometer salt aerosol production intended for marine cloud brightening. Atmospheric research, 2014. 142: p. 158-170. 30. Salter, S., G. Sortino, and J. Latham, Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2008. 366(1882): p. 3989-4006.

Claims (1)

  1. Editorial Note
    2020100258
    There is one page of claims only
    Claims
    Several publications have shown that large wind farms can have local and regional effects. Wang et al. [11] found that if wind turbines can meet 10% or more of global energy demand by 2100, this could cool the surface by more than 1°C near ocean installations, but warm the surface by more than 1C near land installations. Modelling the hypothesis that wind energy could generate total US demand for electricity found continental US warming of 0.24°C, mainly because turbines redistribute heat by mixing the tropospheric boundary layer [12]. A similar warming (0.18°C) was measured in a wind farm in Scotland at night [13].
    Other studies have looked at the effect of a giant wind farm on precipitation in a regional climate model [14]. Models using simulated offshore wind farms have indicated possible precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey [15]. Both aircraft measurements and simulations of the micrometeorological impacts of offshore wind farms show an reduction both of humidity (0.5 g kg-1 even 60 km downwind of a wind farm cluster) and temperature (in the order of 0.5 K) [9]. Low altitude clouds and turbulence can be generated by a wind farm. The cooling offshore effect is due principally to an increase in turbulent mixing caused by the wind turbines which enhance the latent heat flux from the sea surface to the lower atmosphere, the concurrent reduction of mean wind kinetic energy not being entirely offset [16].The environmental issues associated with wind energy have been reviewed [17].
    The Paris Agreement calls for limiting global warming below 2°C [18]. Even if deployment of renewable energies accelerates, all the Integrated Assessment Models scenarios developed by the IPCC for these warming targets require the use of negative emissions technologies [19], removing GHGs from the atmosphere [20] and albedo enhancement technologies (AETs) as this invention for offshore wind turbines demonstrates. A recent encyclopaedic review [21] has shown that natural processes can be enhanced to help cool the atmosphere.
    Several technologies have been proposed to cool the Earth surface by increasing its albedo
    [22] Marine cloud brightening (MCB) [23] and bright water hydrosols BWH [24] are proposed to cool the ocean surface in ways that appear safe and simple.
    MCB consists in using dedicated ships to spray sea water into the troposphere under the marine boundary layer. If the sea salt aerosols generated by nebulizers [25] have the appropriate size, they will increase the albedo of low altitude clouds, reflecting incoming solar radiation back to space, thus cooling the ocean, potentially weakening hurricanes [26]. The cooling effect is very important and limited amount of Flettner ships can counteract warming from doubled C02 concentration [27,28]. The amount of sea salt aerosol generated will be overseas and will represent less than 1% of natural sea spray (but the size is different). MCB by Flettner ships as proposed [29,30] can be fine-tuned, because the ships can move to the better locations and as the MCB is locally emitted it can be adapted to the need to fight hurricanes, or influence el Nino or la Nina effects.
    Editorial Note
    2020100258 There are two pages of drawings only
AU2020100258A 2020-02-24 2020-02-24 Offshore wind turbines as a cooling mechanism for albedo enhancement Ceased AU2020100258A4 (en)

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102020129453A1 (en) 2020-11-09 2022-05-12 Hochschule Flensburg Wind turbine with device for emitting water into the atmosphere
WO2023158301A1 (en) * 2022-02-18 2023-08-24 Qimarox Patenten B.V. Wind turbine and a wind park comprising such a wind turbine

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102020129453A1 (en) 2020-11-09 2022-05-12 Hochschule Flensburg Wind turbine with device for emitting water into the atmosphere
WO2023158301A1 (en) * 2022-02-18 2023-08-24 Qimarox Patenten B.V. Wind turbine and a wind park comprising such a wind turbine

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