Offshore Wind Power Proposal Rises from the Pacific, and Other Offshore Wind Power Stories in the News

Michael Giberson

Typical offshore wind power projects — actually there are not enough projects in existance to talk about “typical projects”, so let’s say “typical offshore wind power proposals — envision embedding the turbines into the ocean floor. Not a problem off the U.S Atlantic Coast or in the Gulf, where the ocean is relatively shallow for miles in many places. The Pacific Coast is different, dropping off more quickly, and making the installation of a wind turbine embedded into the ocean floor a much more costly project.

A story in The Oregonian reports on a proposal to build a floating wind farm off the Oregon coast. See the image from the story to the left, which illustrates the idea. The floating platforms would be moored to the ocean floor by cables.

[HT to David Roberts at Gristmill. I join him in giving thanks to all quirky entrepreneurs, “who do this kind of crazy sh*t first so the suits can follow in behind.”]

More stories on offshore wind power proposals and projects:

• New Jersey offshore pilot project: Wind power to light up N.J.. Focus is on alternative proposals seeking a $19 million grant from the NJ Board of Public Utilities.
• Europe leads the U.S. in offshore wind power development, observes this MarketWatch article, but interest in the U.S. is increasing.
• From this past July in Der Spiegel: A Green Revolution off Germany’s Coast. About the first German offshore wind power project, which began offshore construction in August. (Weather has delayed progress according to this report by the company. Much more information about the project at that link.)
• “Britain [has]now overtaken Denmark as the largest producer of offshore wind in the world,” according to a story in the Telegraph: “Wind farms: Britain has enough offshore to provide power to 300,000.”
• The UK is investing in initiatives to reduce the cost of offshore wind power.
• Perhaps none too soon for the UK wind industry. According to a report appearing this past Sunday in The Observer, wind power developers are set to report that “planning delays, long delivery times, escalating costs, 10-year hold-ups in connection to the national grid and technical problems in building offshore windfarms all threaten to derail Brown’s ambitions [for renewable power output in 2020].” Actually, according to the article, there may be a way for the industry to help the government achieve its ambitious targets for producing renewable power. All it will take is “a huge injection of public money.”