U.S. offshore wind farms: The race is on?

Virginia may become the first state to actually have an operating offshore wind farm in the water. While approval from the U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers is yet to be given, the state could have a 479-foot tall in the water and under test about three miles off Cape Charles on the state's eastern shore by late next year. In February, the Interior Department said environmental reviews for wind energy areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia did not foresee any "significant environmental impacts" from offshore wind farms. As Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at the time "The wind potential off the Atlantic coast is staggering and no developer should have to wait nine to 10 years to get a lease." Salazar was, of course, referring to Cape Wind, the controversial wind farm proposed off the Massachusetts coast. The 130-turbine project has faced an intimidating array of roadblocks: vehement and well-financed local opposition, lawsuits and stalled government loan guarantees to name the big ones. That and it took 10 years of jumping through the siting, permitting and other hoops to get through the approval process. Things are looking better for Cape Wind these days. A Massachusetts court recently upheld a long-term for National Grid to buy half of the power generated, and earlier this month state regulators OK'd a merger that will allow NStar to buy a little more than a quarter of the power. Those positive developments mean Cape Wind can get the financing it needs to start construction next year – assuming all goes well. The other states mentioned – plus Texas – have been working fairly hard on establishing an offshore wind industry, too. It's going to take some doing to catch up with Europe and China which already have operating offshore wind farms...more