Friday, April 30, 2010

New Offshore Wind-Farm

After 9 years of regulatory review the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. was approved by the Department of the Interior on April 28th to be built off the coast of Massachusetts. The approval is expected to jump-start the offshore wind business in the US an alternative energy source that has become quite popular in Europe. Upon making the announcement Ken Salazar the Secretary of the Interior announced that “This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic Coast,” also saying that with the approval of such projects strict regulations would be enforced to prevent possible adverse effects of the wind farms installation including changing the wind turbines direction and color. The review of the project which lasted nearly 9 years faced significant opposition from former Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy who died last August who was largely opposed to the project because he believed that it would be a gift for whichever energy firm received the approval, he also believed that it would be bad for tourism and boating in the area. There are also concerns with the wind farms effects on airplane radar and the project still needs approval from the FAA The wind farm is to be located 5.2 miles from the nearest shore and 13.8 miles from Nantucket. The wind farm will provide power for 75% of cape cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard and produce power equal to that of a medium sized coal power plant and will bring jobs to the area. Construction is set to begin within a year

6 comments:

  1. I think this is a landmark piece of legislation because it will finally begin to chip away at the paradigm in which aesthetic propriety is valued over environmental pragmatism. You know what I'm talking about--lights left on in departments stores overnight, food thrown away because it looks dirty, etc.

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  2. I hope they have resolved the issue with the Native American tribe conflict. The tribe used the ocean view for a ceremony at sunrise and were very opposed to its placement, a common NIMBY issue. Overall, I am all for offshore wind, especially with the new 10 MW huge turbines they have developed, the power potential is huge. Just as long as they put them in the right place...

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  3. Hopefully this will lead to many more offshore wind farms in the future. Despite the fact that many homeowners on the shore dislike the obstruction of view any sustainable device that can produce 75% of an areas energy seems like a step in the right direction to me.

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  4. I believe that offshore wind farms are not the answer. While wind farms on land are extremtly expensive and time comsuming to maintin, I can only imagine this will increase exponentially with the salt water factor along with storm and wind surges. Salt water ruins almost every metal so how long could a wind farm really last in the open ocean? Not only that but the damage to the ecosystems would be completly unpredictable and could be disasterous for whale and fish coastal migrations

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  5. This will set a great precedent for more wind farms. There percent of energy that it provides is amazing and that there are no greenhouse gases being produced. It may be an obstruction but so would any power plant.

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  6. I think this one big step in the right direction for converting the US to green energy. By building this wind farm I believe they will end up with a very good example to show to other states. They will be able to prove how economically sustainable wind energy is and how little the effects are on the surrounding environment. I hope that because of this project we will finally see the boost in interest in green energy that we so desperately need.

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