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First Offshore Wind Farm In US Waters Delivers Power To Rhode Island (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, energy company Deepwater Wind announced that its wind farm three miles off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island, has the all-clear to sell electricity to the regional power grid. The Block Island Wind Farm is the first offshore wind energy plant in the U.S., and it's expected to produce 30 MW of electricity at full capacity. Deepwater Wind is slowly ramping up energy output and still must provide additional paperwork to the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, but the executive director of that organization, Grover Fugate, told the Providence Journal, "we don't anticipate any major issues" to getting the wind farm fully online. The one hitch in the Deepwater's plan is that one of the five turbines was recently damaged when a drill bit was left in a critical part of turbine. According to the Providence Journal, "the bit had caused damage to an unspecified number of the 128 magnet modules that line the circular generator and are critical to producing energy." Although the magnet modules can apparently be replaced easily, Deepwater needs to have the components shipped from France, where General Electric, the manufacturer of the wind turbines, makes them. For now, four turbines capable of churning out 6 MW of power each are operational. The Providence Journal notes that National Grid will pay Deepwater Wind 24.4 cents per kilowatt hour of power, with the price escalating over time to 47.9 cents per kilowatt hour. Because the residents of Block Island have some of the most expensive electricity rates in the nation, they will actually see energy savings, despite the price. Mainland Rhode Islanders, on the other hand, will pay an extra $1.07 per month on average.
In Australia apparently they cause storms that knock down transmission lines. They probably give cats fleas as well.
It's about a ridiculous habit of charging at windmills that for extra hilarity is hundreds of years after a satire about idiots charging at windmills was written. Idiots seeing the new as a monster to be opposed is apparently a plot that never gets old.
Hopefully not. They'll make a damned good profit with all the hot air that'll be blowing.
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If they cause storms, it might be better to turn them off. I don't think that it is a coincidence that when they run, there is wind and when they don't there isn't.
Next on Fox: Does wind energy cause all the huricanes and why are we not allowed to use coal, like King Trump demands.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Windmills don't work that way! Goodnight!!
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Two Texas's is nearly one Alaska. Alaska is 547 times larger than Rhode Island. 12,000 RI's would fit on the moon. There is not much wind on the moon.