“It works like this,” Rigas explained. “The movement of the propellers captures energy out of the wind, which transfers it into electrical energy. Several mills grouped together make up a wind farm, and there’s a substation in the middle of them that has an underwater cable going back to the land. The energy is transmitted and stored at land-based stations.”
Rigas pointed out that projects located in the ocean not only take advantage of high winds but can avoid long-distance electric transmission bottlenecks.

“The offshore wind mills look like land-based windmills, but they can go larger because they’re not restricted by the land area,” he said.

The turbines rise 50 to 100 meters above the water, but in most cases, according to Rigas, they are barely visible from land.
Currently, the mills can withstand 150mph winds, but he said technology is being developed to withstand even greater winds.

Other proposed farms

The most publicized offshore undertaking has been the Cape Wind project off Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. The project has raised objections from some residents who think the turbines will ruin their view, although others back the project, including environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The Minerals Management Service is expected to issue an environmental impact statement in February and reach a decision by 2008,” said Mark Rodgers, spokesman for the Cape Wind project.

Rodgers said the anticipated capital cost is about $1 billion.

“We’ve had some preliminary meetings (with investors), but the financing can’t be secured until the permitting is completed.”

In New York, the Long Island Power Authority has proposed an offshore wind farm that could add 140 megawatts to the electric grid.

Texas also is racing ahead to develop wind farms, including plans for two offshore turbine farms in the Gulf of Mexico, one with Wind Energy Systems Technologies and the other with Superior Renewable Energy.

Jim Suydam, press secretary for the Texas General Land Office, said the model for the Texas farms is based on land leases for oil rigs in the Gulf.

“The Texas General Land Office has leased out land for oil and gas production and made a whole pot of money doing it that goes into the state public education fund,” Suydam said. “Wind energy has gotten a lot of public attention lately, and we started looking into it. But when we did, we went into it for the money. If there’s something Texas understands, it’s energy and money.”

The regulatory environment in Texas, Suydam explained, is different from the rest of the nation.

“Here, if you want to lease acreage you don’t have to talk to the federal government,” he said. “You just deal with the land office.

“Cape Wind has done everything right in how they’re progressing,” he noted. “But regularly I see them getting the rug pulled out from under them because of the hoops they’re having to jump through.”

Suydam said both Texas projects have signed leases, and Wind Energy Systems has begun meteorological testing.
“It’s very similar to a gas lease,” he said. “There’s a bonus up front; they pay us monthly (fee) to use the acreage and we get paid a cut of production. For Texas it means free money.”

The turbines are expected to be up within a year, Suydam said.

“The biggest hurdle so far is financing because of the unknowns,” he said. “It has to be financially and economically viable. But no doubt there’s money to be made here both for the state and for whoever is coming out and taking risks.”