Breaking News In The Wind: Long Island Might Come Back, Delaware On The Move
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 09.17.07
Scale and patience are critical to making wind power cost effective in offshore installations. Recently we brought the unfortunate news that a proposed Long Island Sound wind project had been dropped due to projected low return on investment and high taxpayer burden. A few months back we also mentioned that a developer was working with the US State of Delaware on plans for an offshore wind power installation. Success in Delaware would likely make it a first in the US. Apparently, the Delaware project sponsor thinks there is some chance of resurrecting the Long Island project at a larger scale; and the Delaware project is showing further signs of progress. Delaware's news first:
After months of negotiations, on September 14th, Bluewater Wind completed a critical phase of negotiations with Delmarva Power & Light. The result of these negotiations is expected to lead to the development of the nation’s first offshore wind park, and a 25 year supply of stable-priced, clean renewable energy for Delaware.The agreement represents an opportunity for Delaware to become the First State when it comes to developing and promoting clean, stable priced, and reliable energy.
Now for Long Island: "Weeks after Long Island Power Authority chairman Kevin Law said he would terminate a planned 40-turbine wind farm off the South Shore, a second bidder for the project is expressing renewed interest in taking it on."
"Bluewater Wind, a New Jersey-based company that proposed building a single line of turbines six miles along the Long Island coast, indicated that the cost concerns that torpedoed the project can be addressed by increasing its size."
And on both fronts: "Bluewater made news yesterday by announcing a $1.6 billion plan to build a 150-turbine project off the coast of Delaware. But even as they announced it, company officials expressed concern that the local energy company there might oppose the plan as "too expensive for ratepayers," according to a letter from a Bluewater attorney. Bluewater said its price amounts to 11 cents a kilowatt hour. While Bluewater's initial plan for Long Island encompassed 39 turbines set in a single line six miles from shore, its president yesterday suggested a larger plan could help address cost concerns that recently tanked it."
Via: Newsday Mobile Image credit:: Bluewater.
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009
- So What's in Obama's Overstuffed Environmental Suggestion Box?
- Wind Helps Power Our Flagging Economy
- From the Forums: Wind Power Not Benefitting Us!
I'd like to ask a really stupid question: What are the potential negative impacts of large scale wind-power. Surely removing huge amounts of energy from weather systems and converting it into electricity may have some negative knock-on effect in Wind Power is ever used in any meaningful scale?
http://talkclimatechange.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=52
I know it's a stupid question, but I often wonder about this.
=== author's response follows ===
There are no stupid questions, only dumb answers. I'll try to give a smart one.
We often have comments ask about this by the way. The short answer is that wind velocity increases with distance above the earth's surface, in part because of "surface roughness" slowing it down. Ever notice how when a stiff wind is blowing across a pond or lake that the leeward side is always more calm? Trees slow the wind near the earth surface and make air flow more turbulently. So do tall buildings and power lines. The cross sectional area of a wind farm in the midst of a continental or marine air mass (in both "x" and "z" axis directions) is so small that there is no reason to be concerned about interfering with the weather on a regional level. There is reason to be concerned with the opposite problem: severe weather knocking down wind turbines or towers.
I live on long island. The problem with the wind farm project was the cost. Thats it. For what the cost was going to be they could have put solar panels on businesses roofs and got a better return on investment.
Plus they wanted to tear up the dunes at jones beach to run the lines from the wind farm.