There is now another thing we have to worry about when hurricanes come. Offshore wind farms. Offshore hurricanes could potentially demolish all of the proposed turbines off of the US coastlines according to a study out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We find that hurricanes pose a significant risk to wind turbines off the U.S. Gulf and East coasts, even if they are designed to the most stringent current standard," the authors from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh write.
They estimated that over a 20-year span the turbines and their supports would collapse when matched up with hurricane force winds. They stated the 4 states Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas — where offshore wind-farm projects are now under consideration.
Wind turbines are vulnerable to hurricanes because the maximum wind speeds in those storms can exceed the current design limits of wind turbines, according to the study.
The current construction standards for the turbines and assumed a maximum sustained wind speed of 111 mph near the top of the turbine, about 90 meters (about 300 feet) above the surface. This is the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
The riskiest of the states is offshore of Galveston County, Texas followed by the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Atlantic City and Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
By Ryan Bockmier
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