A BOAT with rally car-style suspension and a giant mechanical “seahorse” are among the designs receiving funding from a contest to solve problems working on offshore windfarms.
Plans for the UK’s offshore wind industry will see turbines up to 300km (190miles) out at sea in three-metre-high waves. Transferring engineers and equipment in these conditions is extremely difficult.
But the Carbon Trust, which is running the competition, said keeping the turbines generating electricity in rough seas could increase revenue by as much as £3billion. Its 13 shortlisted designs from 450 submissions will each get £100,000 for development.