Quantifying the Hurricane Catastrophe Risk to Offshore Wind Power

This article describes a method that can be used to estimate the catastrophe risk to offshore wind power using simulated hurricanes. The authors note that U.S. offshore wind resources are becoming a more significant contributor to renewable energy. They use their model to estimate the fraction of offshore wind power simultaneously offline and the cumulative damage in a region, using Texas as a case study. In Texas, the model showed that 10% of offshore wind power could be offline simultaneously because of hurricane damage with a 100-year return period and 6% could be destroyed in any 10-year period. The authors also present estimates of the risks to single wind farms in four representative locations, showing that the risks are significant but lower than those estimated in previously published results. They conclude with suggestions of strategies to reduce the hurricane risk to offshore wind turbines, including designing turbines to tolerate higher maximum wind speeds. This would ensure that turbine nacelles can turn quickly to track the wind direction even when grid power is lost. Another strategy would be building wind farms in areas with lower hurricane risk.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12085
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/02724332
• Authors:
  • Rose, Stephen
  • Jaramillo, Paulina
  • Small, Mitchell J
  • Apt, Jay
• Publication Date: 2013-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 2126-2141
• Serial:
  • Risk Analysis
  • Volume: 33
  • Issue Number: 12
  • Publisher: Society for Risk Analysis
  • ISSN: 0272-4332
  • Serial URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Hurricanes; Renewable energy sources; Risk assessment; Turbines; Velocity; Weather conditions; Wind power generation
• Geographic Terms: Texas
• Subject Areas: Energy; Pipelines; Security and Emergencies; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01529900
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 1 2014 9:02AM