Offshore wind farm (off the coast of North Carolina) could be the size of a small town

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/930526.html

Offshore wind farm could be the size of a small town

A Chapel Hill entrepreneur hopes to tap the formidable wind resources off the coast of North Carolina.

By John Murawski
john.murawski@ newsobserver .com
Posted: Sunday, Sep. 06, 2009

Far beyond the Outer Banks, the ocean waters could soon give rise to a wind energy farm the size of a small town.

For more than a year, a tiny company has been laying plans for a project that would catapult North Carolina into a national leadership role in offshore wind energy development. Outer Banks Ocean Energy Corp. of Chapel Hill is eyeing federal waters about 25 miles offshore to chase a dream of harnessing pollution-free electricity generated by some of the nation's best wind resources.

An offshore wind farm has yet to be built in this country, and the hurdles are formidable. North Carolina is considered to have excellent wind resources, but fierce opposition has shot down proposals to build commercial wind projects in the mountains and on the coast.

The planned Cape Lookout Energy Preserve likely would have to overcome intense public criticism and rigorous environmental scrutiny. The project could take seven years and would cost at least $900million. The company would have to secure hurricane-resistant towers to the ocean floor.

…

[Pavulon]

1. Or a new reactor at sharon harris or maguire could be the size of a basketball court

and will actually work and create high paying jobs. Not a pipe dream.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Or Both! nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. A few quick questions

Are you saying a wind farm:

• Will not "actually work?"
• Will not create jobs?
• Is a pipe dream?
• Will produce radioactive waste there is no practical way to dispose of?

http://www.interior.gov/news/09_News_Releases/040209.html

Date: April 2, 2009
Contact: Frank Quimby,
[phone]

Secretary Salazar: U.S. Offshore Wind Resources Could Lead America’s Clean-Energy Revolution

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development near the nation’s highest areas of electricity demand – coastal metropolitan centers, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.

“More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire U.S. electricity demand,” Salazar told a summit meeting of 25X’25 America’s Energy Future, a group working to lower America’s carbon emissions.

…

[Pavulon]

4. Both plants are effective and safe. Both pay lots

and both are the reason we have inexpensive energy. A sprawling bit of hurricane bait splattered all over the coast can not generate more power than a single 900Mw reactor. As for waste, well Nevada got nuked plenty, a waste dump seems reasonable.

[bananas]

7. We stopped nuking Nevada because the fallout spread everywhere.

It was rapidly accumulating in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric 14CO2 in the second half of the 20th century.

The figure shows the 14C / 12C ratio ralative to the natural level in the atmospheric CO2 as a function of time in the second half of the 20th century.

The plot was generated with gnuplot from data of atmospheric radiocarbon in Wellington, New Zealand 1954AD to 1993AD and in Vermunt, Austria 1959AD to 1983AD. The SVG file from gnuplot has been improved manually.
The data sources provide the data as D14C. For the plot the absolute percent modern value has been calculated assuming that each measurement was done in the same year as the respective sample was taken.

[Pavulon]

8. Win win..

they can still be an atomic biatch and host the us nuclear waste dump.

[bananas]

6. More likely the reactor wouldn't work

In the U.S. more reactors were canceled than completed.
Cost overruns make them a pipe dream.

[Pavulon]

9. Yep, RTP runs on pipe dreams..

7c a kwh does not come from coal or solar. Other than jeebus power there is no way to make thousands of megawatts on demand. Lots of windy days and chopped up birds to turn out that much juice.

[madokie]

10. I'd like to see where that 7 cents comes from then

it damn sure doesn't come from the heavily subsidized nuclear power industry, you know the one that will make electrical energy too cheap to meter. Yea you know, one of the very earliest lies told by that industry.

[Pavulon]

11. That is what is charged to industrial purchasers of power

operating GSK (and the others), Cisco, NetApp, and many others who run large power consuming operations. Cheap and reliable power along with reasonable cost of living is why many of these companies are moving parts of their socal operations here. They pay less than retail customers but my power rate is much less than other places I have lived.

[kristopher]

13. How many bankruptcies were required to get that low $/kWh?

The going rate for power from reactors built today is estimated to be an average of $0.20/kWh. Of course, if they like their predecessors go bankrupt two or three times and all their stockholders and debtholders are given the shaft, then they can deliver power for the price you are talking about.

[Pavulon]

15. Wish I had some progress energy stock from 1970's I'd be set

no bankruptcy just nice clean power drawing in major companies from states that cant keep the lights on or charge triple the rate here from combustion plants. They are planning to expand operations and guild new reactors, look forward to it as RTP is a great place to live and work.

NYSE PGN

5.482¢ per kWh for those beyond 10,000 kw a month.

This is why companies like it here. What is the rate in socal?

edit:link broken, removed.

[kristopher]

19. Did you track each of their power plants from conception?

Did you track each of their power plants from conception? Also, how many were initiated and never completed thus never generating any power to pay back investments made on the backs of ratepayers?

[JonQ]

5. Let's hope no promiment

senator has beachfront property in NC.

[kristopher]

12. It's 25 miles offshore. There will be virtually no public opposition.

Or I should say no legitimate public opposition. The fossil fuel and nuclear industries will, of course, work the astroturf angle.

[Pavulon]

16. Hurricanes and shipping will be interesting angles..

25 mile trip to fix anything that breaks, and only works when the wind blows or is not blowing 130mph..

[JonQ]

17. Also, migrating birds

don't know if that will be an issue here, but that has been brought up to oppose similiar wind farms elsewhere.

[kristopher]

18. There are no "similar windfarms" to this.

Offshore 25 miles is well beyond migration corridors.

[kristopher]

14. This article is definitely an attempt to create controversy

I don't mean it's an attack piece just that controversy sells papers.

The writer says, "and a year behind a controversy-ridden Bluewater Wind project in Delaware."

In fact the only controversy that affected Bluewater was that the voters had a great deal of trouble understanding why some of the legislators wanted to build a CC coal plant in spite of the fact that the economics and 90% of the public said that the wind option was preferred.

Controversy? Yes. Bluewater as "controversy-ridden"? Not an effin chance.