November 17, 2008
While T. Boone Pickens has garnered much attention in recent months with his well-publicized plan to create a massive infrastructure for wind energy production in America's heartland, offshore wind energy is getting more attention in the heavily populated Northeast.
For its part, the Pickens Plan would require billions in transmission lines needed to bring electricity from the wind-rich regions of the central United States to population centers nearer to the coasts. As for offshore wind -- while by no means cheap -- it would eliminate the need to build transmission lines over hundreds, if not thousands of miles inland.
According to the Department of Energy, the net incremental cost of a project like the Pickens Plan would be $43 billion, enough to bring wind energy to supply 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030.
The coastal Northeast that runs from Massachusetts to North Carolina could contain up to 330,000 megawatts of average electrical capacity, according to a study from the University of Delaware. This is a third of the Department of Energy's estimate of the total American offshore resource of 900,000 megawatts. There are about a dozen projects overall proposed for this region. The potential for projects exists! nationwide.
With rapid progress made in several states, 2008 might be later looked upon as the time when several projects took massive leaps forward, after a slow and painful process slowed or even stymied previous offshore wind projects. It is true that regulations for permitting and siting projects are still being developed by the Mineral Management Service. Cape Wind, at seven years old the longest-running proposal and seen as the template for such regulations, made some incremental progress. But several other projects took important steps when states chose developers or long-term power purchase agreements were negotiated between wind developers and incumbent utilities.
Progressive States
After price shocks hit the state following electricity deregulation, the Delaware General Assembly passed a law calling for the state to generate more of its electricity. The Public Service Commission solicited proposals from all electricity resources. The Bluewater W! ind Park proposal described a 200-turbine, 600-megawatt, $1.5 billion offshore wind farm. In May 2007 the Public Service Commission unanimously selected the Bluewater and ordered Delmarva Power to negotiate a contract. Delmarva argued that offshore wind would raise the average electric bill by $20 or more a month. But by last summer the companies signed a power purchase agreement with Bluewater Wind to build a scaled-down, 200-megawatt wind farm off the coast.
Off the coast of Rhode Island, meanwhile, Deepwater Wind has proposed a $1.5 billion project that would erect more than 100 wind turbines. The state picked the developer from seven bidders following requests for proposals that were sought last spring. Rhode Island expects the wind farm to provide about 15 percent of the state's electricity, generating about 1.3 million megawatt-hours a year. The location has not been determined and Deepwater has committed to building manufacturing facilities for the project in Rhode Island. A formal development agreement is expected to be completed b! y year's end.
And Regulators in New Jersey in September awarded rights to build a huge offshore wind farm in the southern part of the state. The selection is part of the state's Energy Master Plan, which mandates 20 percent of the state's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. The proposal by Garden State Offshore Energy includes installing 96 turbines to produce as much as 346 megawatts. The project, which would cost more than $1 billion, is between 16 and 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey. It would not start producing electricity until 2013. Permitting from federal and state agencies is the next step for Garden State Offshore Energy.
As for Massachusetts, Cape Wind Associates first proposed a wind farm for Nantucket Sound seven years ago. But it has been mired in controversy ever since. The 130 turbines are expected to generate an average of 170 megawatts of electricity. State regulatory agencies have weighed in, although the pathway to successful compl! etion is anything but assured. A final federal assessment of the proje ct's environmental impact is expected by the end of the year. There are also a number of lawsuits surrounding the project that have yet to be decided.
Finally, the Long Island Power Authority is preparing to explore wind power again, just a year after its previous attempt was dropped due to high costs. This proposal would be lower in cost and less visible, two objections the previous foray couldn't survive. LIPA in September said it would join with utility Con Edison to study the prospect of a 300-megawatt wind farm 10 miles off the coast of Queens. LIPA and Con Edison would split the costs and divide energy from the project.
Building power-related facilities has always been contentious and expensive. Off-shore wind farms are no different. But they have the potential supply enormous of power and to avoid endless miles of transmission lines on land. Several states think that a worthy goal.
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