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Amazing that we have the technology and ability to make our own islands. Wind way out to sea is so much stronger and more consistent that it seems to make perfect sense. My concern here is the environmental impact on the sea life but I guess they will be careful and pick sites that are appropriate. Sounds expensive though. Article here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-elec ... -north-sea

A lot of people seem to have a problem with wind turbines ruining the view off our coasts but I think they are quite a spectacle and better than the alternative of burning fossil fuels.

I don’t see the need or financial impetus for artificial islands. It is much cheaper to use existing technology to create foundations somewhat akin to those used for off shore oil rigs. Some European countries are in the forefront of developing wind technology and have been running reverse bidding to award construction/operation contracts to the lowest per kWh bidder.

In my opinion it is a risky endeavor because it drives contractors to bid on the speculation that they can install and operate much cheaper than has been done in the past. This will encourage substandard installations and if the company fails the mess will fall back on the government/taxpayer.

But I tend to be skeptical. I’m hopeful these things work out, but not at all convinced.

I guess by building an island they can quickly put up quite a few turbines but having to put down foundations one at a time must be quite labor intensive. It's bound to be driven by money I guess

From your article it appears that they intend to use the islands for the substations. A “hub” to gather the energy before then sending it ashore at higher voltage. The article is pretty information poor, lots of words but not a lot of information. Makes it hard to really understand what they are up to. But the graphic shows the substation and a few turbines on the island with many other structures on more traditional bases.

BTW THE Dogger Bank is a traditional fishing ground. Maybe there will be a positive effect on fish sticks by denying so much prime ground to fishermen. Will be interesting to see, if I live long enough!

Some immediate questions I have are:

What depth?
How are they going to form the islands: stone walls, soldier piles?
Where will the fill material come from?
How much SLR is anticipated in the design?

Here is a link to a couple of other solutions.

https://www.iberdrola.com/press-room/to ... oundations

https://www.iberdrola.com/wcorp/gc/prod ... ciones.pdf

Looking at the artists impression there also appears to be a landing strip and taxiways as well, so this island could easily be 500 metres in diameter.
The Dogger bank is about 30 metres or so below sea level, so even at these shallow levels, it's a huge amount of material needed.
It would make much more sense to mount the equipment on piers.

The Chinese build artificial islands and then they fortify them and build airstrips and claim all the oceanic territory around them as part of the greater China Co-Prosperity Sphere.

No reason the wind farm companies couldn't do the same thing. Maybe they want to build islands so they can fortify them and then make territorial claims and wind up owning huge areas of the ocean and seafloor.

Cheers!

Plantagenet wrote:The Chinese build artificial islands and then they fortify them and build airstrips and claim all the oceanic territory around them as part of the greater China Co-Prosperity Sphere.

No reason the wind farm companies couldn't do the same thing. Maybe they want to build islands so they can fortify them and then make territorial claims and wind up owning huge areas of the ocean and seafloor.

Cheers!

One really good reason. The Chinese have jets and ships and missiles and all that stuff so they can keep those islands they build. If companies did that the cost of windpower would have to go up alot.

Wind and solar powered aircraft carriers and other battleships are already in the planning stage for the eco-navy of the future.



Perhaps the ships of the eco-navy will one day tie up and plug into the massive wind power arrays on the artificial islands

The Chinese islands were built on already existing coral reefs.

This is totally different. My take on that graphic poster above, now that I look at it more closely is, baloney. Ain’t gonna happen.