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First US Offshore Wind Farm To Usher In New Era For Industry (ap.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the renewable-energy dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Associated Press: The nation's first offshore wind farm is set to open off the coast of Rhode Island this fall, ushering in a new era in the U.S. for the industry. Developers, federal regulators and industry experts say the opening will move the U.S. industry from a theory to reality, paving the way for the construction of many more wind farms that will eventually provide power for many Americans. Deepwater Wind is building a five-turbine wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island to power about 17,000 homes. The project costs about $300 million, according to the company. CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said the Block Island wind farm enables larger projects because it proves that wind farms can be built along the nation's coast. Offshore wind farms, which benefit from strong winds because of their location, are being proposed near population epicenters that lack the space to build on land. Indeed, several states are pushing ambitious clean energy goals, which include offshore wind. Among them is California, which has a target of generating 50 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. Vermont hopes to hit 55 percent by next year and Hawaii has called for 100 percent renewable power by 2045.

5 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. New Era In Buying Politicians by Crashmarik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www.deepwaterresistance...

    Lets see the company was banned from Narraganset

    Promised hundreds of new jobs from the project which will actually only deliver 6

    Last Project off Block Island will cost tax payers half a billion to fix.

    Overall sounds like great return on equity. Maybe they will try investing at the federal level next.

  2. Re:a maintenance nightmare by swell · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Well, as a former marine engineer, I'm thrilled to discover that there is no need for maintenance required for these engineering marvels. But can you explain the high cost of maintenance of land based turbines in California? And please explain why the water based units are maintenance free.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  3. Re:Can anyone say wind turbine boondoggle? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So how long do they last? You castigate Ravenshrike for pulling things out of his butt, but you do the same and say they will be active for much longer than 20 years.

    Additionally, direct spray isn't needed to corrode your metal. Ask anyone who lives near the ocean - direct exposure isn't needed, and most salt spray/salt fog tests do not need to directly spray saltwater at the object - just high salt content moisture in the air is damaging.

    Lastly, given that Denmark has extremely high power rates (about 3X that in the US), perhaps they are the perfect example of why offshore wind is not really a good bet - the power generated is very expensive due to very high maintenance costs. What I see is that offshore wind maintenance costs are on par with the TOTAL cost of electricity for much of the US. Just maintenance alone costs more than the entire cost of power generation. That's not a good sign...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  4. Re:a maintenance nightmare by dbIII · · Score: 4, Interesting
    As a former materials engineer (now computer type) I can tell you there is a lot of epoxy in those windmills and they've been running in coastal environments for decades since that's where a lot of wind is. Those expensive materials are already in use and the lifetime of parts in a full marine environment isn't likely to be much less than some existing coastal units that get a huge amount of salt water sprayed over them already.

    Maintenance on land based windmills is expensive and dangerous

    Yes but that's very well known now and factored in. It's not as if demand is flat so it's not so hard to bring a tiny (in terms of generating capacity) unit offline until it can be fixed.

  5. Re:a maintenance nightmare by rch7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nobody disputes that offshore wind is more expensive than onshore when you ignore price of land.
    But it should be obvious that densely populated areas don't have free land, and don't have many cheaper alternatives.
    Look at the map on page 36:
    http://energy.gov/sites/prod/f...
    Onshore wind resources are good in interior US. They are not as good in East and West.