|
WESTBOROUGH, Massachusetts, US, October 12, 2005
(Refocus Weekly)
Achieving a cost-competitive offshore wind energy
industry in the United States will require “significant advances in
the technology and policy arenas,” concludes a document to guide
development of offshore windfarms in that country.
“Many of the challenges require an integrated approach,” explains
‘A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development’ prepared by the
U.S. Department of Energy with the Massachusetts Technology
Collaborative and GE. “Public acceptance of offshore wind facilities
is linked to development of a credible planning and permitting
process that ensures the recognition of public benefits from use of
the resource.”
The framework was developed over the past year to identify the
technical, environmental, economic and regulatory needs for the
“responsible development” of offshore wind energy potential, as well
as strategies for addressing them. The DOE estimates that 900,000 MW
of wind generation capacity exists within 50 miles of the coastline,
with the deep waters off the New England coast among the strongest
in the country.
“Tapping into offshore wind energy, a free fuel source that is not
impacted by fluctuating prices or volatile fuel import schedules,
can offer long-term competitive electricity costs,” says Jim Lyons
of GE. “At the same time, it will provide the U.S. with a means to
add additional renewable energy into the nation’s electricity mix.”
“Further technology development will be key to this effort,
particularly in deep waters where conditions are beyond the reach of
current technology,” he adds. “The framework recognizes the need for
a cost-effective evolution from today’s near-shore, shallow water
sites to the future’s more remote, deeper water facilities.”
“A national collaborative can play an important role as it works to
coordinate and leverage the resources to address the challenges in
an efficient and synergistic manner,” the document concludes. “The
level of resources needed to fund a collaborative approach will
depend on the form the collaborative takes and on the roles its
members play in providing and recruiting technical and financial
support. Regional collaboratives will also be useful for addressing
regional and local planning challenges and needs.”
The next step in the process will be to create an organizational
development plan for an offshore wind collaborative, with an initial
focus on Atlantic off the Northeast coast. The plan will propose a
clear role for the new partnership in implementing the agenda
suggested in the framework, “making the case for establishing a
multi-sector cooperative effort to address key aspects of the U.S
offshore wind energy development strategy.”
“The framework represents the collective input and research of many
recognized energy experts and specialists across a wide range of
fields,” adds Gregory Watson of MTC. “The winds over deep ocean
waters represent a potentially inexhaustible source of clean energy.
Addressing the challenges facing the offshore wind industry through
the strategies outlined in the framework will enable us to start
harnessing this enormous resource in ways that are both
environmentally and economically sustainable.”
“Wind energy has been the world’s fastest growing energy source on a
percentage basis for more than a decade,” it adds. “If growth trends
continue at the same pace, wind capacity will double approximately
every three to four years. This trend can be largely attributed to
the public’s growing demand for clean, renewable energy and to wind
technology’s achievements in reliability and cost-effectiveness.”
Offshore wind has emerged as a promising resource because the winds
are in relative proximity to major load centres, and there is
long-term potential for over-the-horizon siting and submarine
transmission lines to counter the aesthetic and land-use concerns
associated with onshore windfarms. More than 600 MW of offshore wind
is currently installed around the world, all off the coast of Europe
in waters less than 20 m deep.
Click here for more info...
Visit http://www.sparksdata.co.uk/refocus/
for your international energy focus!!
Refocus © Copyright 2005, Elsevier
Ltd, All rights reserved.
|
