The Associated Press
©
Plans for wind energy development off the coast of Virginia inched forward on Thursday after two companies said they are looking at building underwater electricity transmission lines.
Dominion Virginia Power announced a plan to study building a high-voltage line from Virginia Beach into the ocean that could support wind farms. And, a Maryland company that wants to build a line offshore from New Jersey to Virginia released more details about its plan.
The announcements come a little more than a month after the Obama administration said it could begin leasing sites for wind energy development off the coasts of Virginia and three other states by the end of the year.
"An undersea transmission line project will be a key to getting wind generation from the Atlantic Ocean to our customers," Scot C. Hathaway, Dominion's vice president for transmission, said in a news release. "It makes sense for us to begin a preliminary scoping study of a transmission line and how it could make the offshore wind industry in Virginia viable."
The Richmond-based utility plans to complete the study by the end of the year. Dominion estimates the line could handle up to 4,500 megawatts of electricity.
Atlantic Grid Development LLC and Trans-Elect Development Co. LLC announced Thursday that they are seeking approval from the U.S. Interior Department for a $5 billion underwater line.
The proposal, which has the backing of Google Inc. and a New York-based investment firm, calls for construction to begin by 2016, with a connection to Virginia built in final phases of the decadelong project.
In a conference call Thursday, Markian Melnyk, president and founder of Chevy Chase, Md.-based Atlantic Grid Development, said the Virginia part of the project will come in later phases because of higher demand for energy in the northern states and the lower costs of building a transmission line off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware.
"We think there's a greater likelihood you'll see development in this region first rather than Virginia," Melnyk said "The Virginia area is further offshore, and a little deeper, so it's a little more expensive."
He also said the wind quality wasn't as good off the coast of Virginia.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, in a news release, called Dominion's plan to study offshore wind transmission a "positive step."
"Electricity generation from winds off the coast of Virginia holds great promise for the commonwealth, both as a source of renewable power and new jobs," he said. "This study will help us better understand the possibilities of utilizing this green energy to help power our economy."
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This is a great indication
This is a great indication of how quickly the private sector, the Commonwealth and the Beach are moving to create a network of wind farms that could "plug" into the grid from just offshore near Dam Neck into the Dominion complex in southern Chesapeake. With this connection, the energy can go into the grid. The Navy's goal to use some 25% of alternative energy by some date I can't remember provides impetus to the capital investments others are willing to make. Great to see such assertive action to reduce our energy dependence.
Yeah it's going to be
Yeah it's going to be wonderful! Your electric bill will increase 10 fold lol.
Yet another subsidy
The Navy as a customer for "green energy" is just another taxpayer funded subsidy. The Navy already knows how to run nuclear reactors, and should stick with that.
All those terrible subsidies . . .
If you're that much against government subsidies, I guess you're against the entire airline and air transport industry, hydro-electric power, the nuclear power industry, our interstate highway system, the intercoastal waterway system, America's shipbuilding industry, a good part of our aerospace industry . . . even the oil industry first got it's start when the U.S. Navy switched over from coal to oil.
All those danged, terrible subsidies . . . where would America be without them?
The DoD is the #1 consumer
The DoD is the #1 consumer of oil.
What is the cost per KwHr with the wind farm versus nuclear?
What if all the windmills cause the earths rotation to slow then eventually reverse?
"windmills cause the earths rotation to slow"
Hee hee. That would make an excellent physics exam question.
Most of the energy in wind comes from solar heating but a small component comes from the Coriolus effect. That component is exerted so long as the air is in motion.
Windmills slightly slow the overall movement of air, so that should slightly reduce that Coriolis 'drag.' So, I guess windmills would very slight reduce the rate at which wind and tide frictions are slowing the Earth's rotation.
Now, the exercise for the student is to calculate by how much.
how about zero
I really hope your kidding. Urban development of buildiings across the globe would reduce wind more than a few mindmills and look, we still have our normal 24 hours per day rotation.
Fission power industry's future
With reactor meltdowns in Pennsylvania and now Japan Nuclear power is going to be a VERY hard sell unless more reliable backup cooling schemes can be implemented. Plants near sea level should be subject to a period of a FEW years in which they have to close and transfer ALL their fuel to air cooled casks or protect their backup generators in toughened waterproof vaults with tall snorkels for their air supply and exhaust.
Yes, the serious incidents are very rare, but the long term damages from a coolant failure are so serious the release of fissionable materials beyond the plant MUST be made essentially impossible.
"What if all the windmills cause the earths rotation to slow then eventually reverse?"
I hope you're kidding.
Well if they do it right,
Well if they do it right, they can just flood the things with sea water. Just don't put the diesel gensets under water :-)