Cape Wind Opponents Back New Floating Wind Farm Plan

So it looks like the much-maligned Cape Wind project off Martha's Vineyard is on its way at last. Having received a favorable environmental impact review in December and getting final environmental approval from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in March, the project would be the first offshore wind farm in the United States. But they might not want to order those turbines just yet. Another company has proposed an 11th hour alternative that has the potential to blow things off course for years.

The plan, developed by UK-based offshore wind farmers Blue H, would create a 120 turbine installation floating in 160 foot deep water and anchored to the bottom. Traditional windmills are sunk directly into the sea floor. Locating the pinwheels in the same region, but 23 miles off the coast would preserve the seascape views for the Kennedy family and avoid the ruckus caused by the Cape Wind project thus far.

The technology for the idea originates from deep sea oil rigs, but it is untested for wind power. The problem is that nobody has implemented a large-scale floating wind farm. From what I can tell, Blue H is the only company to even deploy a working prototype, last December off the coast of Italy. The company plans to complete the first commercial 90MW  "energy park" in the fall.

According to the Boston Globe, Cape Wind opponents are seizing on the opportunity to support the flotation devices even though experts say the technology simply isn't ripe yet. The paper quoted James F.Manwell, director of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory as saying, "Nobody's even begun to think about floating," he said. "You're going to have to go through testing, verification. It's going to take years."

Meanwhile, others are pursuing the technology, such as the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro, which hopes to have a working 5 MW prototype in the North Sea by 2009.

Although the floating wind rigs sound promising, it fortunately looks like Cape Wind may be past the point of no return. In other words, just build the darn thing already.