{"id":307402,"date":"2024-03-12T11:39:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T10:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307402"},"modified":"2024-03-12T11:39:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T10:39:18","slug":"cfact-calls-for-banning-offshore-wind-monopiles-in-favor-of-suction-buckets-to-save-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307402","title":{"rendered":"CFACT calls for banning offshore wind monopiles in favor of suction buckets to save whales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0David Wojick<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okay, this is not about sucking whales into giant buckets to take them away from offshore wind harm. Would that it were, but whales are way too big for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, it is about a technology that can go a long way in reducing the harm to whales and other protected marine species. Simply put, suction buckets are a wind turbine foundation design that eliminates the need for those incredibly loud giant monopiles. Of all the ways that offshore wind threatens whales monopiles are the worst, while suction buckets are benign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFACT is calling for the banning of monopiles in favor of suction buckets. Mind you CFACT has made clear that they oppose offshore wind as destructive, ridiculously expensive, and completely unneeded. But if the Feds insist on having offshore wind it should sit on suction buckets, not monopiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin its call for banning monopiles CFACT recently posted comments to BOEM and NOAA via a proposal from the Beacon Wind project. Beacon is considering using suction buckets and wants to run some test cases. CFACT not only endorses these tests, it calls on this to be standard procedure on all offshore wind projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suction bucket technology is simple and elegant. The bucket, less colorfully called a suction caisson, is a simple cylinder that is closed on one end. Installation is in two steps. First, the cylinder is set on the ocean floor with the open end down so it settles into the ocean floor a little way, thus sealing off the interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then some of the water in the cylinder is pumped (or sucked) out. This reduces the internal pressure such that the external water pressure presses the cylinder into the sea floor. Pumping continues until the cylinder is fully embedded, where it can then be used as a structural foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of manually driving a pile, the ocean itself supplies the force. Three or four buckets are typically used to support a framework that then holds up the turbine tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suction bucket technology has been around for many years, often used for anchoring offshore oil rigs. Using it for offshore wind is relatively new but \u00d8rsted, the world\u2019s biggest developer, has a 900 MW project underway off Taiwan so it is clearly feasible at the scale of US offshore projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is their description of suction bucket technology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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