The international race is on to design and build a powerful offshore wind turbine that could upend the world energy business with massive amounts of renewable-based electricity.

 

British, American and Norwegian engineers have drawn up innovative plans for giant 10MW offshore turbines, Guardian has reported. 

 

UK engineering firm Arup, backed by Rolls Royce, Shell and BP, has offered up the striking Aerogenerator, 270m long and rotating on its axis. Designed for power utility Wind Power, it generates twice as much energy as its current plant.

 

US firm Clipper is plotting to build 10MW turbines fixed to the seabed off the English coast and towering 600 feet above the waves.

 

If feasible, should create energy equivalent to 2m barrels of oil in their 25-year lifetime, says Clipper. 

 

The other contestant is Sway, from Norway, which plans to erect sea-based turbines on floating masts anchored to the seabed, the Guardian says.

 

The three leading teams are expected to complete prototypes of their designs in three years.

 

Scale is the key to wind power engineering, says the Guardian. “Doubling the diameter of a conventional wind turbine theoretically produces four times as much power, but weighs eight times as much and can increase costs by a factor of eight.

 

“Offshore power is widely regarded as the future of renewable energy because the wind is much more reliable at sea, larger machines are possible to transport and install and there is far less public opposition.”