After several years of discussions, meetings and COVID, the White House and U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM) have moved quickly to approve the U.S. Wind project to install 121 wind turbines (GE Haliade-X, 12-14 MW turbines, height above 940 feet above sea level) 10 miles off the Ocean City beach and 9 miles off the North Bethany beach — one-half the distance originally proposed.
Cable(s) will come ashore at 3Rs Road, go under Route 1 and through Indian River Bay to the revised Dagsboro power station. Meetings were held June 21, 23 at the White House, and June 27.
U.S. Wind emphasized that they were consulting with “16 tribal nations and native American organizations on consultation to be inclusive in its research of species and ocean impacts.”
Other recent articles in the Coastal Point about the proposed wind farms off the Delaware and Maryland coasts suggest large popular support for these projects. The prospect of free wind and green power seems wonderful. Each company involved has run positive ads in local papers emphasizing what a boon this is for the community, and each company has provided funds for local environmental projects. What better method for sustainable green energy could one desire?
The construction of two major industrial projects only 9 to 10 miles off the Atlantic beaches presents a number of issues. There are two companies involved: one company is Ørsted, a Danish company and the largest wind turbine power company in the world; the other company is U.S. Wind, an Italian company with a recent office in Baltimore. Ørsted’s projects are called Skipjack 1 and 2. The U.S. government has allotted about 80,000 acres of sea floor to each company for construction (160,000 acres is about 250 square miles, almost seven times the size of Manhattan Island).
Each company plans to use a new, extremely large wind turbine, the GE Haliade-X, made in France and designed to generate 12.5-14+ megawatts of power. A single prototype Haliade-X has been erected in Rotterdam for trial and developmental evaluations.
The tower is 853 feet high, mounted on a base extending about 50 feet above sea level; a nacelle about 40 feet high is then mounted on top of the tower. The nacelle is the major functional part of the wind turbine, containing the hub for the blades, generator, machinery to turn the nacelle to face the wind, various sensors and electronics with remote access to lock down the device for servicing and to prevent damage from high winds, etc. The nacelle can be accessed by an elevator in the tower or by helicopter.
Three carbon fiber blades are attached to the hub, each blade weighing about 55 tons. The nacelle (without blades) weighs about 600 tons. The entire turbine rests on a platform about 40-50 feet above sea level, which attaches to a monopile (or sometimes a multiple) driven deep into the seabed or sometimes anchored into a concrete slab. Current recommendations are to inspect each of the 121 units three times each year, which will require visits by boat or helicopter many days each year.
Each Haliade-X wind turbine costs about $13-16 million; special vessels are needed to transport the parts; and various machinery, cranes, trenchers, drills, pile driver, etc., are required for installation. Cables must be laid, and a power station must be refurbished. Ultimately, payment will come from electricity charges, tax incentives and government awards. Companies undertake these ventures to make profit for owners/shareholders.
There is no history of the durability or life expectancy of the GE Haliade-X wind turbines. Smaller, ocean-mounted European wind turbines have lasted 15-20 years. The steel can be recycled, but the carbon composite blades do not degrade, and so far have wound up in landfills. An optimistic representative of Orsted has estimated a lifetime of 30 years.
Marine life, especially blue mussels, will proliferate around the base of the piles, but this is an incidental return compared to the threat to migratory species, intrusiveness of giant towers over miles of sea, light pollution, scrambled radar signals, diversion of shipping, noise, vibrations, possible frequent intrusion by maintenance helicopters, and changing the community to an industrial shore.
Ørsted purchased five existing wind turbines off Block Island (but did not plan or build them), but at five years of service, only one could operate at a time June through August 2021, while inspection, repairs and cleaning were done. The power cable became uncovered out of the ocean and across the beach for more than a year.
The presence of free wind does not translate to free power. Wind farms are expensive, temporary, environmentally intrusive, inconsistent in power provision, a security risk and a poor long-term investment. Electrical power is required on a continuous basis, and solar power is dependent upon sunlight. Wind power is dependent upon environmental variables.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates wind turbine power will be available 35-40 percent of the time. Ørsted gives an estimate of 60 percent efficiency. Even if this estimate was correct, we would have a 40-percent shortfall or perhaps even greater than 50 percent.
A topic never mentioned for offshore wind farms is security. The turbines need to be monitored and controlled remotely by electronic signals. Power stations of all kinds have human and electronic security. Any unauthorized agent could remotely shut down all offshore wind turbines. In addition, it would be a simple task to damage or destroy offshore wind turbines.
In summary, offshore wind farms take up considerable space, are expensive, last a relatively short time, are a blot on the landscape, need a backup energy source, and are vulnerable from remote control or sabotage. There are other green, CO2-free, reliable, more compact, longer lasting sources of power.
The Coastal Point is a local newspaper published each Friday and distributed in the Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Fenwick Island, Ocean View, Millville, Dagsboro, Frankford, Selbyville, Millsboro, Long Neck and Georgetown, Delaware areas.