Photo simulation of a 100-megawatt wind farm three miles south of Jones Beach. Wind turbines appear faint on the horizon. (Source: LIPA)
Energy consumers on Long Island have a seemingly insatiable appetite for electricity. Long Island’s demand for power has been growing at a rate of about 100 megawatts per year in recent years, and in July 2002, energy consumers set a new record by using more than 2.3 million megawatt hours of power during the month.
Voracious demand for power has stimulated the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to look for alternative energy sources. It hasn’t had to look far: Long Island has excellent offshore wind resources—so good, in fact, that LIPA has announced a cutting-edge plan to construct an offshore wind farm that will help meet Long Island’s electricity needs.
LIPA’s project is on a smaller scale than the proposed 170-turbine wind farm for Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Long Island’s offshore project would consist of approximately 33 wind turbines generating up to two to four megawatts of power each for a total of 100 megawatts. The turbines would be located two to six miles offshore, spread over roughly six square miles, and spaced a quarter to a half mile apart. LIPA estimates the cost will run from $190 to $220 million.
The project would use only a fraction of Long Island’s potential wind resource. A study conducted for LIPA by AWS Scientific Inc. shows that wind generators placed in a 314 square-mile band stretching three to six nautical miles off Long Island’s south shore could produce a maximum of about 5,200 megawatts of electricity. A wind farm of that size would meet approximately 77 percent of Long Island’s total electricity needs. The study is available on the LIPA website (www.lipower.org).
While the project is in an early stage of development and a specific location for it has not yet been set, it seems to be avoiding some of the controversy that has surrounded the Cape Wind proposal. Long Island’s offshore wind project has the advantage of being sponsored by a government-run utility company, rather than a private business, and it has the visible support of Governor Pataki and other prominent elected officials. In fact, Newsday, the daily newspaper serving Long Island, conducted a poll showing that nearly 87 percent of the respondents—more than 2,600 people—supported building the wind farm.
LIPA and other wind advocates are keenly aware of the importance of public opinion in moving forward with the project. In June 2002, the Long Island Offshore Wind Initiative (LIOWI), which comprises LIPA and a number of environmental and community-based groups, sponsored a symposium on Long Island to explore the viability of harnessing offshore wind power and to invite stakeholders to participate in a public dialogue. The symposium offered a means for local residents and experts in the field to share their concerns and ideas, and it brought together elected, regulatory, and environmental officials, civic leaders, and wind generation industry representatives.
The Long Island offshore wind project has not yet undergone the lengthy federal review process that is required, and an Environmental Impact Assessment will determine whether the project will have any adverse environmental impacts. But if reviews prove favorable, LIPA will be a pioneer in US offshore wind development and Long Island’s residents may be obtaining some of their electricity from offshore wind by 2006.
Meghan Houlihan is NESEA’s Renewable Energy Program Director.
NESEA Network
