Offshore Wind Farms Closer to Becoming a Reality
OFFSHOREWIND
New Bedford Standard Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
April 22, 2009
WASHINGTON—Change is blowing in the wind as hundreds of thousands of people living on the coast of Massachusetts transform the way they power their homes and businesses.
Offshore wind farms are no longer breezy talk in Massachusetts. Developers and experts agree that offshore wind will become a reality in the next five years. There are two major projects at different stages of development, and one of them, Cape Wind, could begin spreading 130 turbines across Nantucket Sound as early as next year – making it the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Eventually, the project could produce 420 megawatts of energy.
Meanwhile, energy developer Patriot Renewables has been working on the South Coast Wind Project since 2006. The project would install 90-120 turbines in Buzzards Bay and produce 300 megawatts of energy.
“There is huge potential for New Bedford and the SouthCoast,” said John Miller, director of the Marine Renewable Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “The region has the opportunity to become the center of development for marine renewable energy.”
Patriot Renewables is working on environmental studies to determine a location that will have minimal environmental impacts. Researchers are working on a study to determine the impact of the project on Buzzard Bay’s birds.
“We probably have a couple of more years of studies remaining,” said Todd Presson, director of wind energy development for Patriot Renewables. “We are always optimistic, cautiously optimistic. We don’t yet have a good handle on the ultimate size, site and other details of the project.”
Cape Wind has been inching its way to construction for eight years and is now waiting for final federal approval. Cape Wind’s spokesman, Mark Rodgers, said the developer expects a final decision in less than a month.
If approved, Cape Wind will begin construction next year and start producing energy by 2012, Rodgers said. It could provide 75 percent of the Cape’s energy needs, according to its developers. The project was started by wind developers Energy Management Inc., a company specializing in conservation and energy development.
“We are moderately confident that we will get final approval,” Rodgers said.
Despite this expressed confidence by developers and investors, Cape Wind’s eight years of federal and state review highlight the industry’s challenges. The review process includes environmental studies, decisions on sites and awards of local and federal permits.
President Barack Obama has made it a priority to have 25 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable energy by 2025. An Interior Department report says that offshore wind farms could provide 20 percent of electricity for coastal states, which would amount to 16 percent of the country’s electricity by that time.
Right now less than one percent of electricity used by Americans comes from wind, solar and geothermal energy. Offshore wind has the advantage of being close to populated coasts without the need to build elaborate transmission lines.
Nevertheless, offshore wind farms have encountered significant resistance at the local level. Local residents often worry about drops in property values, aesthetic problems and the impact turbines could have on animal habitats. Opposition is difficult to overcome because projects require approval from both local and state governments.
Cape Cod Wind has been navigating these hurdles, including lawsuits by local residents and opposition from politicians like Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and 10th District Rep. Bill Delahunt. But Rodgers said support for the project in the community is growing.
Glenn Wattley, is the president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group created to oppose Cape Wind.
He said wind turbines would pose a risk to airplanes, be in the way of commercial fishermen, raise electric bills and hurt the scenery. He cautioned that Cape Wind was far from being a “done deal.”
Patriot Renewables, the South Coast Wind developer, said feedback from the community and environmental groups has been positive.
Rodgers said similar concerns were raised in Europe, which already has operating offshore wind farms. Wind farms off the coasts of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom produce 1,471 megawatts of energy, according to the European Wind Energy Association.
“While concerns are understandable, track records in Europe show wind farms are good neighbors to coastal communities and represent the ability for coastal states to become much more energy independent,” Rodgers said.
Mark Forest, Rep. Delahunt’s chief of staff, said the congressman does not oppose offshore wind but thinks projects like Cape Wind should be subjected to federal guidelines. “We want to have rules in place to help guide the review,” he said.
Lack of federal standards is another hurdle for offshore wind. In 2005, the authority to regulate offshore renewable energy projects in ocean waters under federal jurisdiction moved from the Energy Department’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, which, among other duties, manages land in the Outer Continental Shelf, where some offshore wind sites are being proposed.
Cape Wind is in federal waters (13.8 miles off Nantucket) and the South Coast Wind Project is in state waters (1-3 miles from shore) and not subject to federal regulations.
The Minerals Management Service is working on guidelines or “memorandums of understanding” that will provide a roadmap for energy development.
“It’s now a matter of weeks for the new rules to come out,” said Walter Cruickshank, MMS deputy director, speaking at recent conference on marine renewable energy in Washington.
The decision on Cape Wind will not be subject to the new guidelines because the project is too far advanced in development. Cape Wind is the first project of its kind, and the rules have developed parallel to the project.
Laurie Jodziewicz, a policy specialist for the American Wind Energy Association, the trade association for the industry, said that developers will benefit from having the “rules of the road” available when thinking about future projects.
“The rule will provide standards on how to lead projects and provide environmental standards,” she said. “There will be lessons learned along the way, but broadly we’ll see offshore wind projects moving ahead.”
Cost is another problem for offshore wind. Presson said that Patriot Renewables has already spent well over $1 million on environmental studies alone. Cape Wind has already spent $40 million on environmental studies, permitting and fighting off opposition.
According to the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the cost of projects offshore is significantly higher because of higher maintenance costs and the expense of building undersea transmission lines.
Despite challenges, federal and state lawmakers are pushing hard to expand renewables. Gov. Deval Patrick has spoken in favor of offshore wind and has begun several initiatives to push ahead on renewable energy.
The governor has said he wants the state to produce 2,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2020, 70 percent of which would come from offshore wind farms. The goal has the potential to power 800,000 homes.
“With the growing interest in wind turbines we see in communities across the Commonwealth and the abundant wind resource we have off our coast, wind power is going to be a centerpiece of the clean energy economy we are creating for Massachusetts,” Patrick said in a press release in January.
Lisa Capone, press secretary for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environment, said the agency is working on a comprehensive oceans management plan that will determine the best locations for renewable energy projects in state waters. The management plan will have an impact on South Coast Wind because that project is being planned for state waters.
“Preliminary studies indicate that with sufficient research and development commercial offers can be realized,” said Tom Welch, an Energy Department spokesman. “Offshore wind’s electric generation capacity could grow significantly.”
President Obama’s economic stimulus package includes $3.2 billion for grants to encourage renewable energy, $42.2 million of which has been allocated to Massachusetts.
Rep. Delahunt, with support from Reps. James McGovern, D-3, and Barney Frank, D-4, introduced a bill that would provide money for states to designate state waters for renewable energy projects. Forest said Delahunt expects the bill to make it to the House floor this spring.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., recently introduced legislation that promotes investments in transmission to facilitate access to renewable energy.
Industry developers and wind advocates are encouraged by these efforts, and many see Cape Wind as a significant first step for the future of the industry.
“They are the first ones out of the gate, and almost every review has been very positive,” Jodziewicz said.
Both Cape Wind and Patriot Renewables are cautiously confident and say they see at least one offshore wind project coming to fruition in Massachusetts within five years.
Cape Wind’s Rodgers advised those looking to invest in offshore wind to have “persistence and patience.”
And Patriot Renewables’ Presson said people need to keep all of the benefits of the project in mind and to have a “high tolerance for uncertainty.”
###
