World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

September 25, 2005 – Vol.10 No.27

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Blowing winds up to 50 miles off the U.S. coast could provide all of the nation’s power needs.

According to a study prepared by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Electric (GE) there are 900,000 megawatts of wind power resources off the U.S. coast, particularly off New England. That potential for offshore wind power is roughly equivalent of all the power currently generated in the U.S.

Unfortunately - but not technologically insurmountable - much of those wind resources are over deep water. Current technology and current economics allow for offshore wind to be planted in relatively shallow waters, up to perhaps 60 feet deep.

However, if oil and gas can be drilled in deep water why can’t wind be tapped?

And from an economics point of view the more expensive oil and gas get the more competitive offshore wind will be.

In a pilot project Talisman Energy is in the process of designing and engineering offshore towers for two wind turbines to be placed in 115 -150 feet of water near the Beatrice (oil) Field about 15 miles off the coast of Scotland. Construction should begin in 2006. If successful the Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project would lead to a major offshore wind farm at the site.

With a little imagination - and ingenuity - other possibilities for offshore wind could include floating offshore wind platforms (like floating deep water offshore oil and gas platforms) and hybrid wave/wind/ocean current offshore power plants that store energy in hydrogen or purified metals for shipment to ports.

And there’s a real bonus to deep water wind. Viewed from land, deep water turbines pushed over the horizon, wouldn’t likely be seen. Oceanfront land owners won’t put up a resistance. (There still would be shipping and fishing interests to deal with however.)

The full study - A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the U.S. - is available from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative at http://www.masstech.org/ . Visit the Beatrice Wind Farm Demonstrator Project http://www.beatricewind.co.uk/