Bermuda has a fantastic wind resource. Wind is what drove the discovery of Bermuda and many of its early trades and activities. In fact, the Bermuda sail rig is the most common rig in modern sail boats that use wind power to move around. The Bermuda Rig was developed in the 1600s and pioneered sailing vessel configurations for faster, more efficient sailing. [1]
Wouldn’t it be great if 400 years later we can benefit from this resource and implement a modern efficient way to harness the power of the trade winds and keep our lights on using renewable wind energy?
Wind turbines date back to 1st century CE when used to power a machine by Greek engineer, Heron of Alexandria. They have had many uses from pumping water to grinding flour. Wind energy is widely adopted across the world as a clean and cost-effective energy source. Currently, there is 7,430 times more wind power installations across the world, than Bermuda has in diesel engine capacity.[2] In 2020 this globally installed wind power generated 2,825 times more energy than Bermuda requires each year. [3]
Some of this is due to the technological advancements that have enabled wind turbines to grow in size. The once common 2MW turbines are now up to 7 times bigger reaching 14MW and some are even hurricane or typhoon rated! [4] Now only eight 13MW turbines are required to power Bermuda on a windy day. We would need more to store the energy to deliver power to the grid on days with no wind. But as the turbines are now taller, they interact with greater wind speeds.
The GE Halide X – is rated for [3 seconds of] 160mph winds. [5] When turbines were 2MW, Bermuda would have required over 50 of them to power Bermuda when, and only when, the wind was blowing not too strong and not too little [between 8 and 62mph]. When the wind is too slow there is not enough force acting on the blades to drive the generator, and when the winds are too strong, the blade must feather themselves to shed the load and reduce the forces on the structure.
Wind turbines work by using advanced airfoil shaped blades to generate lift which is guided by a rotating shaft. The blades work together to turn a shaft connected to a generator. The faster the wind blows the more power the wind turbines can generate. More information on how wind turbines work can be found here: https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work
[2] https://gwec.net/global-wind-report-2021/#:~:text=Today%2C%20there%20is%20now%20743,carbon%20emissions%20of%20South%20America
[3] https://www.iea.org/reports/wind-power
[4] World’s Most Powerful Offshore Wind Platform: Haliade-X | GE Renewable Energy
[5] IECRE.WE.TC.21.0093-R2 | IECRE Certificates
[6] https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work