Offshore Wind Power Gets a Lift with New Offshore Wind Farms in U.S. and Germany

As emergency workers continue to battle an oil spill from a damaged offshore oil well in the Gulf of Mexico that is spreading toward the Louisiana coastline, another form of offshore energy gained a stronger foothold on both sides of the Atlantic this week.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today gave final approval to the Cape Wind offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and, yesterday, Germany commissioned its first offshore wind farm: the alpha ventus project.

The Cape Wind project, originally proposed in 2001, will place 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound off the Coast of Cape Cod, which will generate enough clean, renewable energy to supply 75 percent of the homes on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket--roughly the same as a medium-sized coal-fired power plant. Wind power from the Cape Wind project is also expected to reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking 175,000 cars off the road, and to create 1,000 new jobs.

"This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast," Salazar said at a joint news conference in Boston with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, where the two men met to announce the green light for the project.

During the nine years it took to get a permit for the Cape Wind project, many other offshore wind projects have been planned, and developers hope that the environmental and regulatory scrutiny the Cape Wind project received will shorten the time required to approve future projects.

The Cape Wind project was opposed by wealthy homeowners along the coast--including the late Sen. Edward Kennedy--who were concerned about their views and the possibility of lower property values. Many other issues were also raised and examined, including possible threats to birds, marine life, commercial fishing and aviation. In addition, the project was opposed by two Wampanoag Native American tribes that claimed the wind turbines would disturb spiritual sun greetings and might pose a threat to ancestral artifacts and burial grounds on the ocean floor, which were above sea level a few thousand years ago.

And the battle isn't over yet. Cape Wind opponents have vowed to keep fighting and threatened to petition the courts for an immediate injunction to stop the project, although the exhaustive review the project has received over the past nine years makes that unlikely.

The alpha ventus project, located in the open sea about 45 kilometers off the coast of the island of Borkum, is the first step toward Germany's goal of having 25,000 megawatts of offshore wind-power capacity in place by the year 2030.

"The use of wind power will play a key role in the energy mix of the future," said Dr. Norbert Röttgen, Germany's Federal Environment Minister, in announcing alpha ventus. "Offshore wind farms are a decisive factor in this role . . . Alpha ventus is the beginning, the pioneering work which has truly opened the door for us into the age of renewable energies. Investors, turbine manufacturers and grid operators have all taken a great risk with this test field. Their steadfast commitment, perseverance and creativity have paid off: The experience gained during the construction of alpha ventus will benefit all future offshore wind farms."

Cape Wind and alpha ventus may be landmark projects for the United States and Germany, but other nations such as China, Denmark, the U.K. and other European coastal nations are already far ahead of both countries in building and operating offshore wind farms.

So while all legitimate objections, concerns and misgivings about renewable energy projects deserve a fair hearing, replacing fossil fuels with workable alternatives is a global imperative. We can't allow the inevitable NIMBY (not in my back yard) response to individual projects to stop or seriously delay the development of clean, renewable energy.

Also Read:

• What is Wind Power and How Does It Work?

• Is Ocean Power a Viable Energy Source?