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The Rehoboth Beach Homeowners’ Association heard a talk from a University of Delaware professor regarding offshore wind power, Saturday, April 28.
Willett Kempton, of the university’s College of Marine and Earth Studies, shared his research on offshore wind power. Using a PowerPoint presentation and other visual aids, Kempton illustrated his arguments for why wind power is a viable energy source for the state.
Starting with reasons for seeking alternative energy sources, Kempton’s arguments included reducing dependence on foreign suppliers, economic development and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
He then went to make his case for wind power. Wind, he said, would be a cheaper cost alternative and would exploit the Earth’s natural airflow. Kempton compared the cost of wind to other forms of power such as coal and solar. According to his study, the only energy alternative cheaper than wind is geothermal power, which comes from heat sources within the earth.
Kempton gave a brief synopsis of how wind power works. A windmill consists of a pole that is pounded into the ocean floor, a tower and the blade. One windmill is very large, slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty. The windmills are linked together by wires, which eventually hook up to a substation on land.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of Kempton’s lecture was video and photos from when he toured a wind farm off the coast of Denmark. From aerial photos, the wind farm looked surreal, like a graveyard or something out of the artwork from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” He also showed video from a boat tour of the farm. Kempton pointed out how quiet the turbines were and up close they looked awe-inspiring. The blades don’t look like they are moving very fast. They have a kind of hypnotizing effect.
Throughout the lecture, Kempton touched on Bluewater Wind’s proposed wind farm off the Delaware coast. He said Bluewater has two proposed locations for a farm, both close to the Maryland-Delaware border. The first is about six miles offshore, and the second would be 11 miles out. Kempton said Bluewater’s proposal would use existing substations.
Kempton also showed opinion polls that he and his colleagues conducted to determine what the public thinks of offshore wind power. They studied four locations: Cape Cod, which has had a similar wind farm proposal; Delaware statewide; Delaware beach towns; and New Jersey beach towns. The statistics showed that while Cape Cod residents are 43 percent opposed to wind power, Delaware residents are overwhelmingly in favor. Kempton’s statewide study Rehoboth
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showed 78 percent support, with the beach communities slightly less than that at 65 percent. New Jersey beaches were at only 41 percent in support but 32 percent of respondents said they were unsure.
Kempton also showed a second poll he and his fellow professors did comparing Delaware public opinion of wind versus coal and natural gas.
His study showed that if the cost of wind was the same as coal and natural gas, 95 percent of those polled favored wind. As part of the same poll, the question was asked: if wind were more expensive than coal or natural gas, would you still prefer wind? Kempton said his study showed that 91 percent of those polled still preferred wind.
Wind power is not without controversy, something Kempton addressed. His studies showed that 53 percent of those against wind power cited aesthetics as their reason. The concern is that the huge wind turbines would be an eyesore that could be seen from the beach.
Environmental concerns have also been raised, mostly fearing that birds and bats might fly into the turbines. Kempton’s poll showed 23 percent cited this as their reason for opposition. Wind fluctuations were also cited as a concern. Kempton said that this wasn’t a serious concern because most of the power on the East Coast was interconnected. He said that because of networks of electricity generators it was easy to handle fluctuating power.
Kempton concluded his lecture by talking about some of the opportunities for the state if it was to build a wind farm. Among his reasons were that the farm would be privately financed, would give Delaware an early entry into the industry, would be the state’s best weapon against climate change, it would prevent 10 to 12 deaths a year from respiratory stress due to unclean energy and cost $5 a month in a worst case scenario.
Finally, Kempton cited other places that were proposing offshore wind farms. Besides Cape Cod, wind power has been planned in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Galveston, Texas and Long Island, N.Y.
The crowd of around 20 to 30 people at the meeting seemed to be in support of wind power. One question that was asked was, why not build a smaller scale wind farm as a sort of test run. In response, Kempton said that a pilot project wouldn’t be a bad idea but he didn’t know what could be learned by doing so and that it was also cost prohibitive.
Both Linda Kauffman, president of the association, and Commissioner Patrick Gossett asked Kempton about the wind turbine’s ability to withstand category-3 and above hurricanes. Kempton said current machines are able to withstand a category-4. Gossett also asked about maintenance, which Kempton did not have exact numbers but that the turbines would be a more expensive than a conventional plant.
The final question asked was on the timetable for when the wind farm would be up and running. Kempton said he thought that the installation would probably begin around 2010 or 2011.
Contact Ryan Mavity at ryanm@capegazette.com
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