没有风 风电场也能供电?

We got this question about wind power, “How do you keep getting energy when the wind doesn’t blow?” The answer might be to connect a chain of offshore wind farms. That’s according to Willett Kempton, director of the Center for Carbon-Free Power Integration at the University of Delaware.

我们收到一个关于风能问题：”不刮风的时候，怎么保持风能供电呢？” 来自德拉华大学无碳一体化电力研究中心的主任威利．肯普顿认为，解决方法将近海风电场串联在一起。

Willett Kempton: We’ve solved a lot of the problem of, you know, wide fluctuations – from none to full power, none to full power. You don’t see that when you connect wind farms like this.

威利．肯普顿：我们已解决功率从零到满幅大范围波动中存在许多问题。你把风电场链式连接起来就不会有这些的问题。

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in April 2010, Kempton described a chain of 11 offshore wind farms – each made up of 100 wind turbines – along the U.S. East Coast. They’d be connected by a transmission cable buried beneath the ocean. Kempton said this system is ideal for East Coast weather patterns.

肯普顿在2010年四月发表在《国家科学院院刊》的一项研究描述了将美国东海岸的11个风电场建立链接的情况。这11个风电场各由100多个风力涡轮机组成的，风电场间通过海底传输电缆连接。肯普顿说该系统符合东海岸的天气模式，是一种理想的系统。

Willett Kempton: Storms tend to move up along the coast. So connecting wind farms in a line along the coast tends to give you fairly level power.

威利．肯普顿：风沿海岸转移，将这些风电场连接起来易于提供均衡的电能。

Kempton said that although backup energy sources would still sometimes be needed, this system could one day provide the majority of the East Coast’s power.

肯普顿说尽管有时候还是需要其他类型的电力源作候补，但这套系统终究会满足东海岸绝大部分电能的供给需要。

Willett Kempton: Even just using conventional technology, there’s enough power to run the whole East Coast – all those coastal states, from Massachusetts through North Carolina.

威利．肯普顿：就算使用传统发电技术，也能满足整个东海岸的电力供给——包括从马塞诸塞到北卡罗莱纳的所有沿海州。