The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
Spend $50,000 on a wind-energy research study that the governor wants? OK.
Spend $3.3 million to implement the results of that study? No way.
Virginia Beach officials say they have no interest in buying the Chesapeake Light Tower to install equipment that would gather data for the state's nascent offshore wind industry. The decision came after the city-funded study indicated that it would cost about $2.7 million to upgrade the aging lighthouse off the city's coast and an additional $550,000 to install a meteorological tower.
"It's cost-prohibitive to do it," said Mayor Will Sessoms, who is a proponent of alternative energy industries. "It's a shame."
Other federal agencies may still be interested in purchasing the lighthouse, which had been used by the Coast Guard, and the city is providing them good information from the study, Sessoms said.
The city pitched in $50,000 for the study at the urging of Gov. Bob McDonnell.
State officials are trying to develop a wind energy industry. Last year, the General Assembly created the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority. The authority, which includes energy company officials, identified the Chesapeake Light Tower as a potential site for collecting weather data and determining whether the state's coast could support a wind farm. But the authority didn't have the money to study what improvements the lighthouse structure needed.
The cost of updating the Chesapeake Light Tower is still cheaper than building a new meteorological tower, which is estimated at up to $7 million, according to the study.
The U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies are considering the light tower for wind-data research needs, an energy official said.
Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for McDonnell, said the governor's office has not had a chance to review the study.
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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Off the grid bridge
Ya - Let a private company work it out. AND - when the replacement for the Lesner Bridge on Shore Drive is built - create the infrastructure to allow the military/universities/non-profits/private companies to test wind, solar, wave and other clean technologies on the bridge. Let it power the LED lighting of the bridge so it'll be off-the-grid too.
Let's help make Hampton Roads the CleanTech Alley of the USA.
Are there government owned wind farms?
A company like Welwind Energy is putting in windfarms in Yangxi and Zhanjiang provinces in China as a "private" company. Did the locals pay for wind studies? Probably not.
Governments are suppose to create an environment to promote private companies to grow, but that doesn't mean paying to do their work. Should the government pay to do soil samples for a gold mine or do a test well for oil?
It would most likley
end with nothing to really show for the effort and cost. Virginia Beach has a habit of turning business away. the city govt likes to tell business owners everything from what side of the building can face the road.(a food oriented business doesn’t like to show the back side, ya know dumpsters tend to turn away patrons as in the case at the commerce park, 2 theaters and 4 resturants backed out) to what kind of architecture they are allowed to use. So, I’m sure even IF they spent all the money they would find some way to turn the lights out before they ever got installed... Case in point is the VA Beach and the failed attempt at a commerce park.. Years in the making still 3/4 empty.