Experimental wind power along the Maine Coast

[rbgarr]

Deep water sections of the coast within state waters are being considered for testing mooring and platform designs for wind power installations. I imagine the areas around Vinalhaven and Isle au Haut will be most disconcerting to sailors, fishermen and land owners.

I expect the mouth of the Sheepscot River will prove most attractive due to the relative nearness to shore, transmission lines and industrial docking facilities (Bath Iron Works, Wiscasset nuclear power electrical grid).

Portland YC members would be none too thrilled about towers along the Monhegan Island Race route.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out between now and December when the site selections will be made (afaik).

http://www.maine.gov/doc/initiatives/oceanenergy/oceanenergy.shtml

http://i32.tinypic.com/2zs3dwk.jpg

[jackster]

Thanks for the link and thoughts, rbgarr.
As someone who enjoys the idea and sails sailboats, I would feel disingenuous to be against wind power.
As someone who uses electricity and wants to move away from fossil fuels, I applaud and support the proposal.
As a land owner, I find wind turbines no more (and maybe a little less) unsightly than oil, coal, LNG, or nuclear power plants.
Fisherman, although intimately closer to the towers than most, are probably land owners and electricity users as well.
I feel that we need to consume less energy, and run the risk of feeding our habit with "renewable" sources, its not too realistic to expect our use to decline.
So, this seems to be one encouraging solution.
Practicality and foresight will prevail in Maine...
I Hope. Lead Maine!

[huisjen]

I think windmills are cool.

Dan

[johngsandusky]

Are the "moored" generators on barges? If so, I prefer that to permanent towers. They would be cheaper to install, and less destructive to the environment. Also easy to move for repair or decommissioning.
I'm still sceptical that wind can produce a significant reliable amount of energy. Haven't we all been becalmed on this coast?

[Thad Van Gilder]

Im excited, they are putting these in off the coast of south jersey. They look so cool!!!!!

-Thad

[marcin]

I don't know whether the situation is rthe same in the US as in Europe, but the only reason that windmill farms are halfways cost-effective for the companies that run them is that they are heavily subsidized by the governments. TRC what the public pays for this electricity is about 40% of the cost to actually produce it, if not it would be infinitely more expensive than anything else.

Windmills are very expensive to buy, prone to breakdowns, and spend a lot of time down for maintenance. In fact, in Poland, Germany and France they areused as make-work projects for underemployed shipyards and steel-mills.

They also tend to cause local climate cooling, because of the net loss of kinetic energy of the air.

And, of course, they chop the hell out of birds.

Of course all these costs need to be contrasted with the benefits, i.e. lower dependence on fossil fuels etc., but an in-for-a-penny attitute towards them is, at the very least, unfounded. Unfortunately governments tend to kowtow to various lobby groups, whether it be the greens or the oil industry, or anyone else and are usually incapable of making rational decisions based on calculation.

The floating windmill platform strategy seems rational, at least.

[rbgarr]

For those in Maine, please notice the "Requests for Comment" form shown in the opening post's link: http://www.maine.gov/doc/initiatives/oceanenergy/oceanenergy.shtml

[Bruce Hooke]

I know the waters between Isle au Haut and Vinalhaven pretty well and it seems to me like a not unreasonable place to put windmills. Yes, you will no longer have an unbroken sea horizon when sailing further up that on that side of Penobscot Bay, on the other hand, they are not overly ugly and even if very large my guess is that they will not really look that big given how much open water there is there, or at least that is my take.

I would guess, and this is just a guess, that Maine's peak electricity demand comes in the winter, since AC is not as common or necessary in Maine as it is further south. In winter, the winds should be a bit more reliable than they are in the summer.

[rbgarr]

The study seeks areas that have an annual average wind velocity of 15 knots. Annual average (ashore) around here is less than 6 knots with a 10-20% increase about 10 miles offshore. I wonder whether their test area will be consistently windy enough even in winter. We get long stretches of calm even then.

Rockland (ashore): http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KRKD/2008/9/18/CustomHistory.html?dayend=18&monthend=9&yearend=2009&req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

Monhegan (offshore): http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KMENEWHA2&day=18&year=2009&month=9&graphspan=year

[Bruce Hooke]

What is your basis for saying that wind speed only increases by 10-20% when you go offshore 10 miles?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Aren't you chaps on the wrong side of the pond for those?

Very routine, now, here; we've got used to them.

[rbgarr]

What is your basis for saying that wind speed only increases by 10-20% when you go offshore 10 miles?

I check the wind speeds online frequently around here and Monhegan, about ten miles offshore depending on where you measure from. The wind offshore is regularly that much greater on average. (The links show the same comparing Rockland and Monhegan.)

An oceanographer friend is also studying the Gulf of Maine currents (affected by winds) and finds the same approximate data.

Note that this is not a claim for average wind change everywhere on all coasts.

[Bruce Hooke]

Thanks rbgarr. Very interesting. I would have expected more of a difference.

[timfish]

BEWARE!!!Most of the base investors are under legal action because of building these projects,taking the tax credits and abandoning the sites.This is the most expensive energy to produce.This is giving away public land to private investors.It will displace user groups and cause congestion in other areas.The companies will paint a rosy picture but fail to explain the details of what it takes to support these behemoths.Oil rig sized service platforms containing 30000 gals. of oil.Sea floor degridation.Loss of fish habitat.Loss of fishing area for the local community.The country does need alternative energy sources that produce less greenhouse gases,but not at the cost of more environmental destruction.

[rbgarr]

Bruce,

Down your way it seems the average difference is greater: New London CT, less than five knots average while Block Island is over twelve.

New London: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KCTQUAKE2&day=18&year=2009&month=9&graphspan=year

Block Island: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KRIBLOCK2

[rbgarr]

BEWARE!!!Most of the base investors are under legal action because of building these projects,taking the tax credits and abandoning the sites.

This was one of the issues raised at the local meeting and created concern. Money spent to dismantle and remove industrial facilities is money that industry doesn't want to spend and will look to avoid unless absolutely forced to. It's unproductive and generates no (or negative) return. A worst case scenario is abandoned, rusted, clapped out wind platforms piled up along the coast like the Statue of Liberty at the end of Planet of the Apes. It happened before at the end of the age of coastal sail. Rotting schooner hulks moored haphazardly in remote coves. Some were burned, but others weren't. Of course some came to be regarded as romantic attractions but a broken sagging composite windmill wouldn't be such an inspiring sight.

[Bruce Hooke]

Bruce,

Down your way it seems the average difference is greater: New London CT, less than five knots average while Block Island is over twelve.

New London: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KCTQUAKE2&day=18&year=2009&month=9&graphspan=year

Block Island: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KRIBLOCK2

Interesting.

I've actually spent a lot more time on the water and outdoors near the shore in Maine than I have down here so I am more familiar with conditions there. However not surprisingly I am on the water in Maine mostly during the day, when afternoon sea breezes are more likely, and on the land in Maine I tend to be in the woods or otherwise in areas where wind is less noticeable.

In any case, it will be interesting to see if they come up with any coastal areas in Maine with sufficiently strong winds.

[Wayne Jeffers]

They have been trying to put a wind farm on land not far from our WV house. I like the idea of environmentally friendly power, but I don’t know enough about the science and economics involved with these to have a firm opinion one way or the other.

The proposed project is on private (not public) land along a ridge top in Northern Greenbrier County.

There has been a lot of opposition locally to the project. As I understand it, the points of opposition are 1) it will destroy the “viewshed,” 2) it will threaten a rare (endangered?/threatened?)species, the Indiana bat, and 3) the power will go to customers in or near Pittsburgh, PA, not local or in-state.

IMO, the only one of these concerns that I think legitimate is the threat to the bats. As for the view, I find wind farms infinitely preferable to mountaintop removal coal mining, which is all too common in WV.

Wayne

[johngsandusky]

I'd be more in favor of it if it were privately funded, and built ashore. Not to preserve sea room (I can go around). But because building on land would be a fraction of the cost and less damaging environmentally. But I still want them to be cost efficient. I don't need wind power to feel warm and fuzzy, I have rum for that.

[Bob Adams]

Just like here in Maryland, we're all for it, just not in my back yard. (not my opinion, I think the wind turbines are cool.)

[johngsandusky]

I don't mind it in the backyard. But it has to really work. If it really were viable, I think it would be in every backyard, and it would pay for itself.

[Tom Hunter]

As a person who lives a few hundred yards from a coal fired plant I would like to point out.

1) All the bad things being said about wind are true of coal, except the cost per KWH
2) The cost per KWH does not include environmental damage, hell it does not even include the damage being done to the paint job on my car.

I don't think we should blindly build windmills everywhere, but the alternative is dirty and damaging. It does have the huge political advantage that the costs are not born by the majority of the users. Maybe we would be better off if it was.

[Thad Van Gilder]

My observation from the windmill detracters in New Jersey is that many of them own ocean front shore homes. these homes are occupied by them a week or two each summer.


I have found few people complaining about them that actually know anything about them, or have even seen one in person!!!!!

-Thad