Offshore Wind Wire

MORNING ROUNDUP: Cape Wind Will Cost More Than $2.5 Billion

The Cape Wind offshore wind project will cost more than $2.5 billion to build, not including the cost of financing, the Boston Globe reported over the weekend.

The Globe reported on an analysis of the Cape Wind power purchase agreement.  That analysis, by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, was submitted to state regulators who [...]

MORNING ROUNDUP: Duke Energy Drops NC Offshore Wind Demonstration

Duke Energy announced yesterday that it is abandoning a project to install several demonstration wind turbines off the North Carolina coast, the Associated Press reported.
The company had planned to develop the three-turbine project in conjunction with the University of North Carolina but ultimately decided the cost was too high and the potential environmental impact was [...]

MORNING ROUNDUP: NJ Governor to Sign Offshore Wind Bill

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to sign the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act today, according to a report in the Star-Ledger Wednesday.
The bill calls for $100 million in tax credits for offshore wind companies and will eventually require that a percentage of electricity sold in New Jersey come from offshore wind [...]

MORNING ROUNDUP: Michigan County Rejects Offshore Wind Interest

Commissioners in Oceana County, Michigan, decided yesterday to effectively block a wind project off their shores in Lake Michigan, the Muskegon Chronicle reported.
County commissioners voted 4-2 not to move forward with studies on a 500 megawatt offshore wind farm proposed by Scandia Wind.  Scandia had asked local counties to decide if the visual presence of [...]

MORNING ROUNDUP: South Carolina Measures Offshore Wind Potential

On Aug. 4, scientists and personnel from the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Clemson University Restoration Institute installed a SODAR wind measurement tool on a Coast Guard platform off the South Carolina coast, the Aiken Standard reported.
SRNL, CURI, electric utility Santee Cooper, Clemson’s Institute for Energy Studies, Coastal Carolina University, the Center for Hydrogen [...]

National Lab Releases Offshore Wind Assessment

By William Morgan
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory last month published the most comprehensive study to date of the country’s offshore wind resource.
The study, Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources for the United States, compiles data on Hawaii and much of the lower 48 continguous states.  In most situations, mapping was conducted up to 50 nautical miles from the shoreline.
Data [...]

NC Offshore Wind Demonstration Begins Environmental Study

By David McGlinchey
Duke Energy will hold a public meeting March 18th in the Outer Banks town of Manteo to discuss the newly launched environmental impact study for a proposed three-turbine offshore wind demonstration project.
The Army Corps of Engineers filed the official notice launching the study in February, according to Duke Energy spokesman Jason Walls.  He [...]

South Carolina Panel Calls For Offshore Wind Pilot Project

A South Carolina legislative task force issued a report this month recommending a near-term offshore wind demonstration project and a leasing framework for state waters.
The report, South Carolina’s Role In Offshore Wind Energy Development, also called for “revenue certainty” for offshore wind developers and 40-80 megawatts of installed offshore wind capacity by 2013.  The study [...]

DOE Gives Clemson $45 Million To Test Huge Wind Turbines

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a $45 million grant on Monday to test extremely large wind turbines at the former naval base in Charleston, South Carolina.  The facility will be built and operated by the Clemson University Restoration Institute.
“We are at the beginning of a new Industrial Revolution when it comes to clean energy and [...]