Workshop set for offshore renewable energy

 NORFOLK

A workshop about offshore wind, wave and other forms of renewable energy will be held Monday, June 8 at the Marriott Norfolk Waterside as part of a series of meetings nationwide.

The workshop will focus on the leasing process overseen by the federal Minerals Management Service, and on other parts of the regulatory process. Both Virginia and North Carolina have expressed interest in developing wind energy offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf, said Maureen Bornholdt, manager of the agency's offshore renewable energy program.

A state-funded academic group called the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium made a pitch to local political and business leaders last month in support of windmills several miles off Virginia Beach.

The Norfolk workshop will run from 2 to 5 p.m. in Hampton Roads Ballroom VII of the hotel at 235 E. Main St.

Many of the West Coast workshops will discuss energy from ocean waves and currents, because industry has expressed some interest in developing those resources off California and Oregon, Bornholdt said.

Walter Cruickshank, acting director of the Minerals Management Service, said the technology for capturing energy from ocean waves and currents is not as advanced as that for wind farming, so the first leases will likely be for wind.

The Minerals Management Service regulates energy development in federal offshore waters, which generally begin three miles off the coast.

Development of a regulatory framework for renewable energy production offshore was announced in April by President Barack Obama. It establishes a program to grant leases, easements and rights-of-way for such production, and to share revenues with adjacent coastal states for wind, wave, solar and other forms of renewable energy. The regulations take effect on June 29.