Cape Cod Closah Ta New Wind Pahk

Cape Cod Times reports that Cape Wind Associates LLC has cleared another bureaucratic hurdle. To break it down, basically they now have a plan in place on how they will negotiate the price of power from the wind farm with the people buying it, National Grid. This is important because power companies like National Grid try to lock down good rates so they can have reliable power for a fixed price. Once the prices are agreed upon, developers like Cape Wind Associates LLC can go out and get financing for their project. People providing that financing, such as banks and investors, like to know about how much they will be making and what kind of return they can expect.

I don't think that there are many in the wind business who envy Cape Wind Associates. This company is working hard to bring off shore wind power to the North East coast. But they are up against a classic case of NIMBYism. The back yard in question being the ocean view. And those who claim the ocean happen to be some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country. I find this dilemma to be fascinating.

I want to work in off-shore wind because I like living near the ocean. And though I myself like uninterrupted views of the ocean horizon. I also happen to like wind and I know that off-shore wind is incredibly efficient. Water, much like the flat plains of northwestern Oklahoma, offers little to no resistance to the wind. The proposed park of 130 turbines could provide clean energy to 126,000 homes.

One solution to the dilemma would be moving the turbines so far off shore they could eventually disappear entirely from view. I'm not sure how far offshore they would have to be, it's a good distance, they are 300 feet plus tall and the higher up the person on shore is the farther off they should be. But deeper water means more building materials which reduces the return on investment. As off-shore wind advances in the coming decade we will see such concerns play out as people balance their desire for clean power against their need to look into vast abyss.