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Far beyond the Outer Banks, the ocean waters could soon give rise to a wind energy farm the size of a small town.
For more than a year, a tiny company has been laying plans for a project that would catapult North Carolina into a national leadership role in offshore wind energy development. Outer Banks Ocean Energy Corp. of Chapel Hill is eyeing federal waters about 25 miles offshore to chase a dream of harnessing pollution-free electricity generated by some of the nation's best wind resources.
An offshore wind farm has yet to be built in this country, and the hurdles are formidable. North Carolina is considered to have excellent wind resources, but fierce opposition has shot down proposals to build commercial wind projects in the mountains and on the coast.
The planned Cape Lookout Energy Preserve likely would have to overcome intense public criticism and rigorous environmental scrutiny. The project could take seven years and would cost at least $900million. The company would have to secure hurricane-resistant towers to the ocean floor.
Outers Banks' founder, Donald Evans, 74, an entrepreneur, calls the project a “colossal undertaking” but considers wind one of the country's best energy options.
“Offshore wind is an inexhaustible, clean energy resource,” he said. “It's been there since the Earth was here.”
The Pinehurst resident has embraced wind power as the nation's salvation from global warming and unpredictable energy costs.
In the coming months, his company plans to hold community meetings in the state's coastal counties to introduce the project to the public. The company also will apply for a federal permit to build towers in the ocean to test wind speeds.
Wind provides a little more than 1 percent of the nation's electricity, but it's the fastest-growing form of renewable power. Wall Street financiers and state governments are betting on wind power and other forms of renewable energy as states enact renewable mandates and Congress debates global warming legislation. The Obama Administration's stimulus package will pump in $3billion to cover 30 percent of the costs for wind farms and other renewable energy projects.
Each turbine blade would reach 465 feet into the sky. The power plant consists of oversize, three-blade propellers that turn tower-mounted generators. At least 50 towers would be required for the first phase, but the exact total would be determined by the power capacity of the type of turbine selected.
Even at such a dizzying height, the array of whirling blades would not be visible from shore. Plans call for eventually tripling the size of the wind farm to at least 150 towers spread out over 54 square miles – an area nearly the size of Fayetteville – if demand for the electricity increases.
The Cape Lookout Energy Preserve wouldn't generate electricity until 2014 at the earliest – two years behind a bitterly contested wind farm being developed on Cape Cod, and a year behind a controversy-ridden Bluewater Wind project in Delaware. In South Carolina, the Santee Cooper power company has begun testing offshore wind speeds as part of a plan to develop an ocean-based wind farm.
The Chapel Hill company still would have to run detailed studies on sea bed formation, bird flight patterns and fish movements, as well as commercial shipping lanes and military training zones. Large offshore tracts probably would be removed from consideration by conflicting recreational, environmental, commercial and military uses.
Wind farms typically evoke public controversy over esthetics, property values, noise, shadow flicker, radio reception interference, unsightly transmission lines and, at sea, disruptions to popular fishing and recreational areas.
North Carolina environmental regulators would have to approve permits to allow undersea and overland power lines close to shore. Coastal Resources Commission Chairman Bob Emory, whose agency held hearings on offshore wind power last week, said state officials will need at least a year to develop the energy policies required for offshore wind farms. “We're not in a position to issue a permit,” Emory said.
Staff researcher LamaraWilliams contributed
