Offshore wind farm

[dogg57]

Fishermen’s Energy of Cape May is hoping to get its last approvals to break ground on what would be the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
The company plans to build six windmills in a demonstration project in state waters 2.5 miles off Atlantic City.

But the company is still awaiting the OK from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the creation of a renewable-energy program that allows polluters to buy offshore-wind credits that would help pay for construction.
The company’s optimism generated headlines this month at a national offshore wind conference in Baltimore, Md. Last year’s conference was held in Atlantic City.
“I think we have a good shot at being first,” company spokeswoman Rhonda Jackson reiterated this week. “There are so many obstacles out there. So much is contingent on what happens in the state.”
The company’s demonstration project would be the forebear to a second project more than 10 times larger in federal waters.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_e708ea7e-fd03-11e0-8fba-001cc4c03286.html

 

[dogg57]

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised to speed approvals for the nation’s offshore wind farms in 2010, when he met with industry leaders in Atlantic City.
Since then, thousands of new windmills have been built in the United States — enough to power almost 15 million homes.

But they’re all spinning over land.
Every offshore wind farm proposed in New Jersey and the rest of the Atlantic seaboard remains grounded. The promises of new manufacturing jobs and a new energy industry have not materialized.
Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, said two projects off Nantucket Sound, Mass., and Block Island, R.I., are closest to breaking ground as the nation’s first offshore windmills.
A third project sponsored by Fisherman’s Energy, of Cape May, is nearing the start of construction, he said.
“We’re on the verge of launching a big multibillion-dollar industry that will be located in New Jersey and along the East Coast,” Lanard said.
The company was one of seven that received $4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to engineer and design demonstration projects. Fisherman’s wants to build five turbines 2.8 miles off Tennessee Avenue in Atlantic City to generate about 25 megawatts, or enough to power about 20,000 homes.
The agency will pick three of these seven projects for investments of $47 million each for siting, construction and installation to get them up and running by 2017.(MICHAEL MILLER)
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_2235e0c8-7eba-11e2-97a9-001a4bcf887a.html

 

[46er]

Are there any pine trees out there?

 

[dogg57]

Are there any pine trees out there?

Yes