Government to speed up offshore wind energy development

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled plans to begin issuing new offshore wind energy leases as soon as next year under an accelerated approval process.

The U.S. Interior Department said it will work to identify high priority areas off the Atlantic coast for offshore wind energy development, as well as revise regulations to simplify the leasing process as part of its new initiative.

"To fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation's vast Atlantic wind potential we need to implement a smart permitting process that is efficient, thorough, and unburdened by needless red tape," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

The department said it will also move "aggressively" to process applications to build offshore transmission lines to bring power from the wind farms onshore.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AM6QM20101123

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

1. "Now, we find the ground is more stable if we get the oil out from under it first..."

I'm just kidding, but that wouldn't really surprise me.

[LawnKorn]

3. A hefty carbon tax on oil production would be an excellent way to fund investment in wind power

It is time to make the greenhouse gas emitters pay for cleaning up the atmosphere.

[wordpix]

7. +1

[molly77]

8. I live near the largest wind farm in the north east built by First Wind

Or so they said when it was finished the last of '08 in Maine. It is not online. Totally paid for by tax subsidies.They produce minimal power, it cannot be stored, every mile it is transmitted ...energy is lost. The turbines have a life span of 20 years. So putting one up that isn't even online is insanity. The corporation First Wind has ties to Enron, the Mafia and Larry Summers. 84% owned by hedge funds.

New England has Cap and Trade for some reason. First Wind stated that they did not have to produce power to make money when they recently tried to sell stocks on the open market.Their SEC report states that they don't have to sell power in their power purchase agreements with foreign countries. Hence NY and Maine have two wind farms which are not online. Cohocton and Stetson close to the Canadian border.

Here is an example of how Cap and Trade works. NC has a lot of coal fired power plants. Bad air days where old people/ people with breathing problems are encouraged to stay inside.So they buy Renewable Energy Credits from Texas wind farms . Then they continue to operate. Our electricity bills go up. Matt Taibbi says energy is the next bubble. The middle man will be cut out and the money will go straight to Wall Street.

When energy was deregulated , we were told that our rates would go down with competition. Our rates have gone into the stratosphere instead. And the utility companies are not transparent in their business deals. Iso New England charged New England rate payers 40 million dollars for energy not produced. The Conn AG, Max Blumenthal sued them...all the way to the SC over it. Of course he lost to the corporations. Iso New England and the Federal Energy Regulation Commission stated they would only open their books to the Justice Dept.

Must be a lot of money in utilities. Google wants to invest in transmission lines to send Maine wind power to Mass. All that glitters is not gold. windaction.org and cohoctonwindwatch.org

[awoke_in_2003]

10. "every mile it is transmitted ...energy is lost"

that is true of EVERY energy source. The reason long transmission lines transmit at such high voltage is that you lose less energy transmitting high voltage than high amperage (more loss due to magnetic fields).

[LawnKorn]

13. Pilot plants and technology demonstrations are rarely profitable

We have to have the first pilot plants to obtain the necessary knowledge for efficient operation of future plants. It is part of any major development.

It is folly to think a technology can be brought out of the laboratory and put straight into profitable operation in one step. The operating hours of the New England plants, even the hours not feeding energy to the grid, are being recorded in the engineering log to solve future problems. Current operations are far from a 'loss'.

It is flat-earth thinking to dismiss the first example of something useful because it was not useful enough.

[jpak]

16. Mars Hill and Stetson are on-line & producing power and you have to sell electricity to sell RECs

Maine's electric rates are the lowest in New England and deregulation slowed the rate of price increases dramatically.

New England has cap and trade to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and Maine has received millions to reduce carbon emissions from that program.

Some of that money will be used to build a large biomass energy facility at Jackson Labs - and other similar projects are underway at other locations in the state.

Stop spewing nonsense

yup

[NickB79]

15. With the GOP gains, kiss any carbon tax goodbye. nt

[DissedByBush]

2. Kennedy's not around to object anymore

Don't want to mess up a millionaire's pretty view of the ocean.

It's about time we got serious about offshore wind.

[molly77]

9. The technology for off shore wind farms is not proven.

Rates will triple. Even Wal Mart objects to off shore wind farms in Mass. Due to increase rates. Wind farms actually produce about a tenth of the power that they purport. The money is made for the corporations that build them and the renewable energy credits. This does not save the environment. The propaganda is similar to shock and awe. Save the mountain tops. Well the mountain tops are blown off. Cement is put down.Trees are clear cut on land. The turbines are over 40 stories tall now. Animals and even fish just leave the area. Then pesticides are sprayed routinely going into ground water.

The wind farms destroy the fishing industry. There is a lot more than views involved. Read about it.

[DissedByBush]

12. It was about disturbing his view

"Green" is good until it inconveniences the rich.

No need to clear mountaintops here, just basically some big buoys with blades on them. It's not exactly rocket science.

[jpak]

17. It's been proven and it's operational in Europe - fish leave the area? What horseshit

:rofl:

Wind farms destroy the fishing industry? That is absolutely not true.

Made up horseshit

yup

How's LePage working out for yeah?

[LawnKorn]

4. K&R

[XemaSab]

5. .

:(

[truthisfreedom]

6. It's too bad they can't put the power lines underground. Wind turbines I find very majestic,

but transmission lines, not so much. I hope at least they're sculptured.

[daleo]

11. High voltage lines can't be buried over long distances

If I recall correctly, really high voltage lines (the kind used for long distance transmission to reduce line losses) have to be a considerable distance above the ground. The capacitance of the ground produces significant power losses otherwise.

[titaniumsalute]

14. Sounds good to me

I see some very negative comments. Yes it might be an eyesore, yes transmission lines are pretty, but it is still wind and not coal. I'll take that.