May 20, 2009


Wind - always a subject of passionate debate among Outer Banks fishermen, surfers, and kiteboarders - is likely to generate controversy when the first wind energy projects are proposed for waters off the North Carolina coast.

“There are no formal proposals at this time, but there have been general discussions and there are developers with interests,” said Bob Leker, renewable energy program manager with the State Energy Office in Raleigh.

A U.S. Department of the Interior report issued this spring found that federal waters, which run three to 200 miles offshore, from North Carolina to Delaware contain 71 percent of the country’s shallow-water wind resources. 

Leker said current technology best lends itself to shallow water sites, around 20 to 30 meters in water depth.

“The least expensive and most common type of foundation structure used now would work well in the sounds and in a significant portion of submerged land in the Atlantic,” he said.

The Obama administration has issued regulations controlling the leasing, permitting, and construction of wind turbines in federal waters.

“The U.S. has a huge resource for production, including the large mid-section of the country and our extensive coastline,” said Leker.

He said the U.S. leads the world in installed land-based wind energy facilities, but has no offshore operations and lags far behind the European Union in offshore technology.

In North Carolina, companion bills (SB 1068 and HB 809) governing the permitting of wind energy facilities have been referred to legislative committees. 

Permits for facilities over the state’s coastal waters would be issued by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  Permits could be denied if the projects negatively impacted fish and wildlife or critical fisheries habitat, obstructed navigation, or adversely impacted views from state or national parks.

The University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences is working on a feasibility study of wind turbines in Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.  That report should be presented to the General Assembly in July.

Wind projects over waters less than 100 feet deep could supply at least 20 percent of the electricity needs of most coastal states, according to the federal Interior Department report.

“Turbines could supply a very significant portion of the electricity for the Outer Banks,” Leker said.

He noted that software that uses historical meteorological data to predict production is being developed.

Offshore wind energy projects are planned for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware, and a conceptual $1 billion project, 12 to 15 miles off Virginia Beach, Va., has been floated before community leaders.

The controversial $2 billion Cape Wind proposal for building 130 turbines, with the highest blade tip extending 440 feet over the surface of the water, in a 25 square-mile section of Nantucket Sound has sparked opposition from property owners worried that the turbines would blemish the waterscape.

Leker, the North Carolina energy manager, said turbines are not very visible beyond five or six miles.

“Some people say that turbines add a graceful, dynamic element to the waterscape, and others say they mar the view.  It’s a matter of individual perspective,” he said.

Other objections have come from passenger ferry services concerned that turbines are close to ferry routes, from Native American tribes protesting the negative archaeological and cultural impacts, and from aircraft pilots concerned with radar interference.

Commercial fishermen and recreational boaters wonder how wind energy facilities would impact access to public trust waters, and how the electromagnetic field generated by underwater cables would affect navigation electronics.

And fishermen and environmentalists are asking questions about the impact of wind farms on fish and wildlife. 

Leker said that while infrastructure construction could temporarily impact fish habitat, research in Denmark indicated that the areas around the foundations could act as artificial reefs for fish and shellfish.

Questions on how underwater noise and vibration and electromagnetism might impact fish migration also have been raised. 

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