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Energy Department Proposes Funding For Ohio's First Offshore Wind Project
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: An energy development group has been working for years to put together Ohio's first offshore wind project. That might sound odd for a state so far from the sea, but the benefits of offshore wind (strong, consistent gusts and relative proximity to major population centers) translate to wind turbines that are placed in freshwater, too. Consequently, an area eight miles off Ohio's Lake Erie coastline is slated to see six new 3.45 megawatt (MW) turbines as part of a 20.7MW pilot installation. On Thursday, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued an Environmental Assessment stating that proceeding with the plan would not cause any "impact to the human environment." In an additional finding published by the DOE this week, the department added that it did not believe that the offshore wind project would cause significant damage to migratory birds, either. Finally, the DOE proposed an unspecified amount of funding for the project, which will be the first freshwater offshore wind project in the US and one of the first offshore wind projects overall. The Lake Erie Energy Department Corporation (LEEDCo) and Norwegian investor Fred Olsen Renewables (FOR) will be developing the "Icebreaker" project, as the turbine installation has been called. "Interestingly, the turbines will be secured to the lake using a 'Mono Bucket' foundation, with a suction-based design that's similar to what's been used on offshore oil-drilling platforms in the North Sea," reports Ars. "The design, LEEDCo says, uses 'the best and lowest-cost technology for sites 25 meters and less.'"
Why not offshore drilling. I bet there is oil under that there lake.
They should be using clean American coal, from America's heartland. MAGA
Overall, lots of wind on the lakes, and other than superior, relatively shallow ( i.e. cheap to set-up ). At the same time, it would be good to add new nuclear reactors there. Together, they can shut down Murray coal.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
At least the chopped birds won't be scattered about on the ground creating an unsightly mess.
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Most of the Lake Erie economy depends on tourism. These will be a complete eyesore and will take away from the natural beauty the Great Lakes give. Lots of fishing, sailing and boating happen on Lake Eerie and its a way for people to get away and be out in nature. These will only detract and hurt the tourism of the region for the little amount of power they will generate.
Bird populations figure out how to avoid the blades - I've watched them play around the blades as they spin.
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"did not believe that the offshore wind project would cause significant damage to migratory birds"
None of them do. At least not as much as 0.3 cats.
No, they're over the horizon (8 miles North RTA, horizon is 3 miles away) and wind farms are not eyesores. You'd have to sail out towards them by 5 miles to see them.
On the plus side, perhaps Murry Energy's lobbyist, now EPA head, Andrew R. Wheeler, won't have to increase the mercury emission limits after all.... if we burn less coal, we won't need to kill babies with mercury after all.
But hey, dead babies from mercury on the one hand vs people in yachts might not like seeing them when sailing 5 miles out.... it's a tough call to make.
This project comes from the same nation that once had a member of senate decry renewable wind energy as dangerous because wind was a "finite resource" and we would run out of wind if we built these farms.
now, im probably going to be modded down for making such a politicized observation, but had this been communist china, this wind farm would be an obvious solution to nonrenewable energy sources and most certainly come without debate. Of course as a member of the politburo you're free to opine the dangers of running out of wind, its just that such an objection would reward you with the next six years of your life to spend in appreciation of the rare majesty of the breeze as you split rocks amidst it in a labor camp.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The project will be located 8 miles offshore, vertically. See the official website: http://www.leedco.org/index.ph... for the map / plan. There's little public or political will for the nuclear energy industry - at least beyond Tennessee's TVA. Per Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_States), about 1/2 of the plants are operating at a loss. Shutdown expenses are substantial (https://www.energydigital.com/utilities/what-does-it-cost-decommission-nuclear-power-plant). 2nd, despite the Executive branch backing of the coal industry, it's decline is inevitable. Again, there's little public support beyond the coal producing regions for coal fired plants. Here's an interesting article on that subject: https://energytransition.org/2.... Murray coal is the biggest producer of coal today in the U.S., but like the Saudis, they need to look beyond their current business model. I find it difficult to understand the hostility toward renewables in the U.S., though it seems that hostility is on a decline. Anyone who has a romantic notion of coal and their supported communities must have little familiarity with actually working in the mines, even with contemporary technology. Families have paid a high cost over many generations for coal. And I say this from my own family's history. I've walked those hills, I've visited cousins in coal country towns. I've watched the young move as quickly as their feet can take them. As my dad would say, "it's a done deal'.
The Cuyahoga River Gorge Dam is going to be removed, which is great for the river ecosystem. But, instead of spending money on wind turbines it would have been more economical for producing electricity to turn the dam into a run-of-the-river dam.
The new glow in the dark lakes could be a tourist attraction.
And yet, we have had nukes along the great lakes for over 70 years and still no issues.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Stop the subsidies, it's just corporate welfare. Claiming that wind power has some kind of exemption because it's "green" is only admitting that "green" energy cannot survive competition.
End all energy subsidies. That means coal and nuclear. What nuclear power needs is permission to proceed, not subsidies. At least end the subsidies on the federal level, that's beyond the powers of the Constitution.
We're only now seeing some real research into fourth generation nuclear power. The molten salt reactor was a technology proven viable decades ago but shelved for political reasons since the 1970s. The Trump Administration is now allowing the building of prototypes which I assume will merely prove what was known in the 1950s. People have been begging for permission to perform such experiments for decades. Maybe now we can get on the path of building something other than another nuclear teapot for energy.
I find this concession for building a prototype a bullshit compromise because it means people will use this as an example of the government subsidizing nuclear power research. Well, give us laws which allow for such research on private property then. So long as the government lives with the myth that nuclear power is some kind of state secret, even though this technology has been in the public domain for decades, we will see such research have to happen with government employees on government land.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Highly paid geologists have engaged in oil exploration across the entire USA. If oil was there, drilling would have occurred decades ago.
Offshore wind is expensive, and generally pushed by people whom don't want onshore wind, because of how it looks.
Energy Department proposes funding for Ohio’s first offshore wind project
There is absolutely nothing in the story about funding anything.
What this says is that and environmental impact assessment was done and there would be no impact to the human environment.
Whoop de doo. Give the project momentum and the people that oppose it will find their equivalent of the snail darter before you can say boo. What's more, there still is no mention of dollar one.
You get this continuously with her just yesterday she had the zero information EU CO2 capture story.
It's like she holds treats out for dogs and some people feel obligated to get excited about nothing.
Just don't let any Japs near them, or muslims.
Thank you for the complement. I'm glad you approve of the debate style I use against complete nonsense.
Don't go bringing "facts" into his knee-jerk FUD baseless arguments!
Don't you know that every waterway that serves as coolant for nuclear reactors ends up glowing in the dark?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Wind is usually calm.
No sun.
What's the alternative to power 24/7/364 businesses from 2am-5am that isn't coal or fossil fuels?
Nuclear. That's it.
I'm not saying we shouldn't use lots of wind and solar and figure out ways to store that power for later use, but it cannot be the only solution.
You are correct about the AP1000. Only nuclear cycles that result in less than 5% waste and half-lives measured in decades should be considered, but it isn't a NO-GO at any cost either. These are engineering problems, not basic physics problems.