Oct 7 2010
Oceana, an ocean protecting support group in its recent press release, said that small investments in the offshore wind power generation over Atlantic waters will roughly cover half of the east coast’s power requirement. The release further stated that the investment in the Atlantic waters could produce 30% more power than the combined production of offshore oil and gas from the same area.
The report estimates that the total offshore wind power capability of Atlantic seaside as 127 GW. Its study further revealed that states such as North Carolina, Massachusetts and Delaware can meet 100% of their power requirement by installing offshore wind turbines while New Jersey can meet 92% of its requirement by utilizing offshore energy. For the purpose of the study, the researchers zeroed in on economically viable locations for installing offshore wind turbines. During the study the researchers looked in to details such as physical considerations of the location, environmental issues, location distance from the shore, round the year wind speed and other contending uses. The report did not provide details on installing large-sized floating type of wind turbines. The report also made a number of suggestions such as stopping further oil and gas installations in the formerly confined locations in the Atlantic Ocean and taking measures for the continuation of tax credits for wind energy production.
Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director of Oceana and a co-author of the report, said that their research proved that generating power by installing offshore wind turbines in Atlantic Ocean will work out cost effectively than drilling the ocean for oil and gas.