Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wed, April 28, 2010 — 12:23 PM ET
—–Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.
After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation’s first offshore
wind farm, a sprawling project off the coast of Cape Cod.The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United
States, which has lagged behind far Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to
provide electricity to homes and businesses.
This is great news for renewable energy in the United States. I’ve often wondered why governments having been more on board with using renewable energy like wind energy. It is there and will always be there – you can’t stop the wind! I suppose that more traditional energy companies (read: fossil fuels) are still quite powerful and may want to keep doing what they’ve always been doing.
The full article is here and of course it’s not fully supported by all environmental and consumer groups. And the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t figured out what kind of risk it may present to airplanes…. but they fly into other countries (Japan) that already have off shore wind farms.
“Opponents say it would be an industrial blot in an area of pristine beauty and change the region’s historic character. They also warn that the costs to consumers are likely to be double or triple the costs for conventional power. Improvements to the region’s electrical grid and transmission lines could cost $10 billion.”
My only concerns would be the impact to sea life – I’m far less concerned that someone doesn’t want to see a wind turbine. Thinking about all that renewable resource being used is beautiful to me.
