Va. Beach conference debates: Is (off-shore) wind energy in doldrums?

[OKIsItJustMe]

Va. Beach conference debates: Is wind energy in doldrums?

By Scott Harper
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 23, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

Almost everyone agrees that harnessing offshore wind energy in Virginia is a great idea - it's a clean, abundant, free resource. Problem is, hardly anyone can agree on just how to build, finance and properly regulate a wind farm off the coast.

There are conflicts with military training, fishing boats, cargo vessels, migrating whales and birds. There is the fact that almost every state on the Atlantic coast is racing for scarce investment dollars and government approval to get its project in the water first.

And there is a lingering political debate about whether oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic coast could still be done amid spinning offshore wind turbines, or which energy-capturing activity should be done first.

On Wednesday, more than 200 environmentalists, engineers, regulators, business executives and would-be investors crowded into the Virginia Beach Convention Center to try to find some common ground and move a Virginia project forward.

…

[kristopher]

1. The content is a bit muddled...

...I don't think the writer has a real understanding of the issues involved.

Here is the link to the story FWIW.
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/06/va-beach-conference-debates-wind-energy-doldrums

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Thanks for including the link

(Oversight)

[txlibdem]

3. Offshore wind projects are vital to our energy future - fighting for funds in this economy perhaps

But I wouldn't call that being in the "doldrums" exactly. I'd call it a bump in the road, nothing more.

All that free money just sitting there waiting for somebody to come along and put up a wind farm to collect it. The funding will come. And an offshore electrical connection grid is already in the works to connect all of those wind farms back to shore.

The entire eastern seaboard is an excellent wind resource that we cannot afford to ignore.

PS, oil drillers can go out into the deep water and do their damage there.