Big-Bladed Wind Beasts Need Behemoth Bases From Belgium

摘要

As offshore wind turbines grow in power, they need increasingly robust supports. Six of the world's biggest new-generation concrete gravity bases have recently been placed in depths up to 27 m in the North Sea to carry 5-MW turbines. Installed 30 km off Belgium since late April, the hollow, pre-stressed 2,700-tonne concrete bases are the first of the $240-mil-lion, 60-unit Thornton Bank farm. The 300-MW first phase is due for completion this September.