The “Manhattan Project” of Off-shore Wind Farms Proposed for Maine
A massive, 5GW wind farm could be built off the coast of Maine and be fully operational in 10 years if a think tank of energy advisors get their way.
This post from earth2tech.com says the Ocean Energy Institute’s proposal to build five 9.2-square-mile offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine could be a boon for the local construction industry and the national energy picture:
Dubbing the plan a “Manhattan Project for Maine,” the Ocean Energy Institute says it could create some 20,000-30,000 jobs. The group on its web site also lays out a larger plan to get the U.S. off of fossil fuels, which the group calls the “Pickens Plan Plus” or the “Simmons Plan’ — use wind farms to power the grid, but add in the large amounts of offshore wind around the U.S.
The Ocean Energy Institute is run by energy investment banker and energy adviser to President George W. Bush, Matthew Simmons, and physicist George Hart. They believe off-shore wind farms offer a greater potential in wind energy that so onshore projects, and the Gulf of Maine is supposed to be one of the windiest areas in the world.
The biggest issues these days seem to be how to finance a project this big and the NIMBY – “Not In My Back Yard” – attitude too many communities currently have.
3 Comments »
J. Michels
I am curious if anyone knows why these large wind farms are not using vertical-axis turbines, which are cheaper to build, much easier to maintain and do not kill birds. There are also other advantages too, like they work well in urban settings, unidirectional and can typically be mounted on existing roofs.
Since they have fewer moving parts, they are simpler to construct and can run for years without any maintenance. Their design also does not require specialized material like the giant propeller-types that are the fad, and many of the models currently being marketed have cut-out speeds much higher than props. This quite literally means they are capable of generating exponentially more energy; and yet they are not even mentioned on some wind industry websites. Can anyone explain this? –if you are looking for good examples, there is a manufacturer’s list you can find by just googling “VAWT.”
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EA Moody
There is a deeper connection to wind turbines, and its in ‘Plane Site’
I live near ‘Freedom’, Maine where on certain nights, I see scores if not hundreds of silent aircraft flying directly overhead. The only possibility is that those towers have a multi-task.
Its no surprise to me that the Bush family is involved in ‘off-shore’ (Free) energy.
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