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New York Approves Largest US Offshore Wind Farm Off Long Island (computerworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the renewable-energy dept.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has approved what will be the longest U.S. offshore wind farm when it's built off the east end of Long Island. When it's all said and done, it will generate enough electricity to power more than 50,000 homes on Long Island's South Fork. Computerworld reports: The South Fork Wind Farm will consist of 15 wind turbines with 90 megawatts (MW) of capacity. While the project still needs to complete its permitting process, construction could start as early as 2019 and it may be operational as early as 2022. The approval of the South Fork Wind Farm, to be located 30 miles southeast of Montauk, is the first step toward developing 1,000 megawatts (1 gigawatt) of offshore wind power, Cuomo said in a statement. The wind farm approval comes two weeks after Cuomo's State of the State Address, during which he called for the development of 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The 2.4 gigawatt target, which is enough power generation for 1.25 million homes, is the largest commitment to offshore wind energy in U.S. history, Cuomo said. Cuomo wants New York state to get 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. The nation's first offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm, went live last month. Both the Block Island and South Fork wind farms are owned by Deepwater Wind, a company based in Providence, R.I.

19 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Let's hope it does better than Shoreham Nuclear by jigawatt · · Score: 2

    Back in the 70's and 80's, Long Island Lighting Company built a complete 820 MW nuclear plant that never operated beyond some initial low-power testing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    1. Re:Let's hope it does better than Shoreham Nuclear by cavreader · · Score: 4, Informative

      "It's doubtful they understood the risks of nuclear back in the 70s"
      I am pretty sure they started learning about the dangers of nuclear processes starting back in the 1940's.
      "It took a Fukushima accident... "
      Have you ever heard about the 3 Mile Island incident back in 1979? The Chernobyl accident was in 1986. The Fukushima accident didn't happen until 2011.

    2. Re:Let's hope it does better than Shoreham Nuclear by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Informative

      "It took a Fukushima accident... "
      Have you ever heard about the 3 Mile Island incident back in 1979? The Chernobyl accident was in 1986. The Fukushima accident didn't happen until 2011.

      Why can you Yanks never admit the Brits beat you to anything? The Brits had a nuclear accident way back in 1957 (Windscale), long before 3 Mile Island was even in the planning stage.

      --
      No sig today...
    3. Re:Let's hope it does better than Shoreham Nuclear by DickBreath · · Score: 2

      Conservatives believe in big Big BIG government when it comes to what people do in their bedrooms. Just sayin'

      Then consider this logical inconsistency.

      * Corporations are Persons
      * Personal Responsibility
      * Corporations should never have any responsibility for what they do, thus no regulations ever

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  2. I'll believe it when I see it by dcavanaugh · · Score: 5, Informative

    So far, NIMBYs have been very effective at killing offshore wind farms. Waterfront property is typically owned by "special" people, and they don't like the noise of wind turbines. http://abcnews.go.com/Technolo...

    1. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by dcavanaugh · · Score: 3, Informative

      DIrect quote from the article:

      But Cape Cod is a region famous for its pastoral ocean views, including the one visible from the Kennedy compound at Hyannisport. Once built, the wind-power plant would be faintly visible on the skyline of this tourist-dependent community, particularly during clear days.

      "We wouldn't build a wind farm in the middle of Yosemite," Robert Kennedy Jr., son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, has argued. "People want to look out and see the same sight the Pilgrims saw."

      I mentioned it because there have been numerous wind farm proposals near Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, and ALL of them have been defeated. The excuses change every so often, as the NIMBYs align themselves with whatever allies they can find.

    2. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At 30mi offshore, my napkin math suggests you'd need to be nearly 600ft in the air to see them, and that through the haze. A rational NIMBY argument would be a bit difficult to come by.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    3. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's all part of the Kennedy creed: "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask for special treatment and privileges."

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by Jeremi · · Score: 2

      A rational NIMBY argument would be a bit difficult to come by.

      Not a problem, as we have ready access to a generous supply of irrational NIMBY arguments as well :)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    5. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "A rational NIMBY argument would be a bit difficult to come by."

      Unfortunately, NIMBYs are just as good at fabricating irrational arguments. Just you watch: the continental shelf 30 miles offshore will turn out to be sacred ground to someone.

    6. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There's infrasound - it affects people in the area who are not getting any financial benefit from a windmill and either want it to go away or get a cut themselves. It has the advantage of being impossible to detect (at least in the case of windmills) but people will tell you they "feel it". It causes lung conditions in smokers, heart problems in obese people and a very long list of other unlikely symptoms.

      All we can do is read Don Quixote and laugh at how apt it is so many centuries later. People hate change and cling to a golden age that never happened - by charging at windmills!

    7. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's selfishness. Don't want an offshore wind farm near my property, faintly visible on clear days and not exactly ugly. No, someone else can have a fossil fuel or nuclear plant near them, and I'll happily consume that energy at subsidised prices, thank you very much.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by LunaticTippy · · Score: 2

      "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WHALES!!!"

      That's simply good planning. Those land-based turbines will be underwater soon, causing mayhem when whales crash into their spinning blades. You think it makes a mess when a large bird hits a blade? Try a frickin sperm whale!

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
  3. Re:lets destroy the view by CaptainDork · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm a photographer and actually notice things around me.

    I don't like all those fucking power poles and lines but did you ever think of that?

    No.

    You only think about yourself.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  4. Re:lets destroy the view by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

    Just like all those windmills in the Øresund have brought all shipping into and out of the Baltic to a screeching halt, right?

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  5. Re:lets destroy the view by DrXym · · Score: 2
    Idiots are getting really pissed off by them.

    Sensible people realise that a few windmills out in the sea is infinitely preferable to a coal / oil / gas plant with all the infrastructure that goes with it - railway lines, slag heaps, ash ponds, oil / gas holders, deep dredged docks, traffic, tanker / colliers sounding horns etc.

  6. Re:Who's Going to Break This To All The Rich Peopl by DickBreath · · Score: 3

    Didn't New York get the memo? We've got a new president now. The future of energy is Oil and "clean" Coal.

    Make America great again. As in like the 1950's. Let's go back to things that once were the economic engines of growth during the Dear Leader's youth. That would be Cars. Steel. Oil. Coal. It's not that we don't need all those things to some extent. But in the 21st century they are not the economic engines of growth, IMO. The things that are now the economic engines of growth are The Internet. Robots. AI. Nanotech. Biotech. Etc.

    The dear leader wants to build a pipeline because he has a completely out of touch view of the future. Just like in the 1950's, we can pollute the world forever with no consequences! Yea!

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  7. Re:lets destroy the view by DickBreath · · Score: 3, Informative

    You know, I don't like the look of all those power poles and cell towers either. But I wouldn't trade them for not having the services they provide which make our lives infinitely easier compared to past generations. We still live in the greatest time to be alive. Tylenol. Caffeine. Viagra. Electricity. Cars. Magical mobile information devices we carry in our pockets that can answer voice questions.

    In a generation, different people will look out on the ocean and think: how beautiful the graceful windmills are compared to coal power plants belching out pollution.

    Yes, modern life has some curses associated with it, such as FaceTwit. But still I wouldn't live in any other past time.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  8. Re: the project still needs to complete by gtall · · Score: 2

    Evidence or stop talking out of your ass.