U.S. Ready to Lease Offshore Wind Areas

The United States Government is on the edge of auctioning a total of 2,434 square miles area off the East Coast for development of offshore wind farms. The exact date of the auction is yet unfamiliar, however, it is expected by the end of this year.

The biggest area to be leased is the one off the Massachusetts coast, covering 1,161 square miles. The area off the Maryland coast encompasses 125 square miles, the one off Delaware covers 161 square miles and 176 square miles are to be leased off the Virginia’s coast. Also, leases will be auctioned off the coasts of New Jersey and Rhode Island.

The Washington Post says that the projects will be built 10 miles off the shores, which will positively effect on the landscape issues that Cape Wind had, since its proposed distance from the shore was 5 miles.

In line with that, the U.S. Government is trying to address every potential objection before they are even shaped, as well as learning from experience with the Cape Wind.

All that has a major cause for the Atlantic offshore wind could produce over 1,000 GW of electricity, which is an equivalent to the current capacity of the country’s energy production.

Finally, this move reflects a great dedication to the rapidly growing industry. Moreover, the fact that the U.S. is still behind Europe in the offshore wind development, without any sea based wind farm, is stimulating the country to move forward.

Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, an organization that represents eight major developers, said: “We’re not a new technology – the offshore wind industry has been operating in Europe since 1991.”

He added: “The U.S. is two decades behind. To catch up, we have to make big investments, just like nuclear, oil, gas and coal had to make big investments at the start.”

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, July 26, 2012; Image: Atlantic Wind Connection