A better alternative off Virginia's shores

Virginia Beach is moving aggressively to see if it can harness wind energy as well as encourage the businesses that go with it. Already, the mayor has corralled city, state and federal officials to work together to bring the technology here. The research is promising, the startup expensive, but exploring the possibility of an inexhaustible resource that doesn't soil the ocean is a smart move.

Mayor Will Sessoms organized the energy task force to look at all sources, including wind, the sun, tides, algae biomass, and oil and gas. But plans to build turbines for wind - the fastest-growing energy source in the world - are progressing quickly.

The Hampton Roads Sanitation District is considering using wind to provide supplemental power to its Atlantic treatment plant and possibly a school nearby. A consortium has proposed erecting a 550-foot demonstration tower at Dam Neck to prove that sufficient wind is there and that the turbine can withstand marine weather. Fueling the interest, a Hampton Roads company plans to begin building components for wind and solar power.

The Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, created by the state two years ago to develop renewable technologies, says the ocean off Virginia Beach, where the average wind speed is 10.4 mph, is well suited for a wind farm. Two sites were mentioned, both 12 to 15 miles off the Dam Neck Annex to Oceana Naval Air Station.

A pilot project would help developers determine whether building more than 100 turbines offshore, at a cost of $1 billion, would produce enough energy and attract enough business to be worthwhile. One proposal suggests that operating 200 turbines offshore would supply 20 percent of Virginia's power needs and create 1,200 temporary and 250 permanent jobs.

Although four other states are working on similar projects, none is operational. But Europe has used wind as energy for decades.

The world's largest facility is planned for 12 miles off the Kent coast in England, scheduled to be operating in 2012. When complete, the project - 341 wind turbines over a 90-mile area - will power 750,000 homes, a quarter of which will be in the London area. The project is part of the United Kingdom's effort to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Steep obstacles remain for a project in, or off the coast of, Virginia Beach. The technology to build towers in deep water is still evolving. The Navy, not to mention the Federal Aviation Administration and various other federal and state agencies, has safety and environmental requirements.

Someone will need to build transmission systems so the electricity can be delivered efficiently to population centers. And wind is more expensive per kilowatt-hour than conventional technologies.

In addition, wind can't produce all the energy we need, so another - dirtier - energy source remains necessary. Although the impact of wind farms on bird populations is often overstated compared with other threats, environmental groups and federal regulators continue trying to accurately gauge the danger.

Still, 300-foot-tall wind turbines, barely visible from the shore, would be a better, cleaner use of offshore territory than carbon-emitting natural gas, coal or oil.

Oil will soon become too expensive and too valuable a commodity to burn. In addition, because Hampton Roads is one of the most vulnerable places in North America to flooding, we have a vested interest in reducing carbon emissions that trap the sun's rays and cause the sea level to rise.

Wind doesn't cause pollution, generate hazardous wastes or deplete natural resources. And although it wouldn't produce enough electricity to power the state, it would provide one more option to reduce our reliance on other countries for energy. The question is whether we're ready for the shift in thinking that's required to take full advantage of the breeze.