A Norway-based oil and gas company by the name of Statoil is working on an innovative project known as Hywind. The project, which involves placing a 213 foot tall wind turbine out to see, is the first full-scale floating wind turbine in the world. The turbine, which boasts three 139 foot rotor blades, started to supply power to the country’s power grid on September 21 after it was hook up to a transmission cable.

Amazingly, the ballasted steely cylinder attached to the 2.3 megawatt generators goes approximately 700 feet below sea level. By placing the wind turbines in the sea, however, Statoil hopes to be able to capitalize on the winds that are created far away from land and over the open ocean.

Researchers in the United States are also looking for ways to take advantage of the wind that blows over the water. In fact, the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine is working toward testing a prototype to be tested off of the coast of Maine in 2011. Furthermore, a company known ad Blue H USA has applied to the Army Corps of Engineers in hopes of placing a test platform without a turbine approximately 23 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

“Our real opportunity for ocean energy is deepwater wind,” said Habib J. Dagher, who is the director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, in a New York Times article.

Experts in the alternative energy field maintain that deepwater turbines help solve many of the problems that currently exist with those that are built in shallow water as well as those that are built on land. Namely, deepwater turbines are located far away from land, which eliminates the aesthetic and noise concerns that have revolved around land-based projects as well as those that involve building turbines close to shore. Another benefit is that the deepwater turbines can be placed far away from aircraft flight paths and shipping lanes as well as the migratory paths of marine animals and birds. The turbines can also be kept well out of the way of sport and commercial fishing grounds.

Deepwater wind is also beneficial because the winds get stronger the further offshore they are blowing. They are also more consistent than the winds found on land and over shallow waters, namely because there are no surface obstructions in the way. On the other hand, floating wind turbines are still extremely costly to build. In fact, experts in the field estimate that building a 5-gigawatt deepwater wind farm will require an investment of about $20 billion.

So far, the Hywind project has cost about $70 million to produce. This is partially due to the fact that the cylinders used with the project need to be assembled in the deep waters with the help of large barges and floating cranes. Even those projects that do not need to be assembled in deep waters are costly to complete because they still need to be transported to their remote locations. Of course, either way, the cost of maintaining these turbines is more costly than maintaining those that are on land or that are closer to shore. Furthermore, transmitting power with undersea cable is quite costly as well.

Of course, the cost isn’t the only concern associated with deepwater turbines, as there are numerous engineering issues associated with these projects as well. For example, it is impossible to build a platform for these turbines that is completely stable, as ocean swells and storms cause movement that places stress in the turbines. This can place a load on the rest of the system that can potentially lead to some serious problems.