Australian researchers says new floating turbine design could cut costs by 40pct, but only for small machines

A new floating wind turbine design could cut the cost of building by as much as 40 per cent, the researchers behind it say, but there is a catch: It won’t work for the biggest oceanic machines.

University of Queensland professor Wenhua Zhao tested a scale model of his design, a structure about 2m tall, at the wave basin in Shanghai Jiao Tong University recently.

He says the results show the design not only worked, but could support a turbine as big as 3.6 megawatts (MW) with an 87m hub height.

The scale model turbine produced by Dr Zhao (second from right) was put through wave basin testing at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. Image: University of Queensland

“This builds our confidence that this novel design can survive in extreme states,” Zhao told Renew Economy.