World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

November 16, 2003 – Vol.8 No.34

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Offshore wind development in the U.S. will be a struggle. Strong environmental opposition and NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard ism) as well as suitable sites will dictate development. Americans, too, though often generous personally, don’t often rally for global causes like climate change. (Though that might be changing. There seems to be more internationalism since 9/11.)

Winergy LLC has scaled back, again, its plans for a wind farm off the coast of Maryland and Virginia. The original plan was for 271 turbines, that slipped to 221, then to 150; now it’s down to as few as 10 turbines.

The cutbacks came from concerns from environmentalists over migratory birds and objections from the U.S. Navy and NASA, which operates the Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket-test site on nearby Wallops Island. Visit http://www.winergyllc.com/ .

Offshore wind is having much better success elsewhere on the planet.

Britain’s first major offshore wind farm, North Hoyle, is now officially complete and on-line. Built 4-5 miles off the coast of Rhyl and Prestatyn in North Wales, the 30-turbine, 60-megawatt facility will supply enough electricity for the equivalent of 50,000 homes each year.

National Wind Power was the developer of the project and electricity will be sold through Npower Juice. Visit North Hoyle at http://www.natwindpower.co.uk/

Australia’s largest (on shore) wind farm to date - Challicum Hills - is now officially open for business. The 35-turbine, 52.5-megawatt facility near Ararat in western Victoria was developed by Pacific Hydro, which is also building a 180-megawatt, 120-turbine facility at Portland on Victoria’s coast. Visit Pacific Hydro at http://www.pacifichydro.com.au/

Back in the U.S., the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, says that nearly half of the 48 million acres of federal land in the state of Nevada managed by BLM has the potential for wind development.

To date there are no wind farms operating commercially on BLM land in the state, but permits for wind testing monitors have been issued for 13 sites, with 32 applications for monitors pending. The potential sites are scattered across the state, typically along mountain ridges.