Duke Energy floats US offshore wind pilot

The race to build the first US offshore wind farm heated up this week when Duke Energy announced plans for a pilot project involving three demonstration turbines off the east coast.

The project, to be conducted with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will build on a nine-month study completed in June to assess the feasibility of wind power projects off the coast of North Carolina.

The study found a strong potential for utility scale wind production at the selected site, but also warned there were legal barriers due to existing state law, which could hinder development in state waters. It called for new regulations to free up the potential for offshore wind energy in the state.

However, new federal regulations permit the leasing of federal submerged lands on the outer continental shelf for renewable energy projects, restricting the siting of utility scale projects to waters at least three miles off the Outer Banks.

"A high-level economic screening suggests a levelised cost of generation for either inshore or offshore development is in the $101-$106 (£63.3-£66.4) per megawatt range," said the study summary, which predicted significant reduction in carbon emissions should a utility style offshore wind facility come online.

Duke Energy is not the only North American company to be dabbling in offshore. Canadian Hydro recently acquired a 4.4GW offshore wind development project in the Great Lakes, while earlier this year interior secretary Ken Salazar gave a major boost to the fledgling sector by announcing reforms designed to streamline planning approval processes for offshore wind farms.

Duke Energy already has 634MW of land-based wind power in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming, with another 99MW under construction, and 251MW due to come online next year.

In related news, the long-running saga surrounding plans to build the first US offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts took another twist after a group of Native American tribes lodged an official request to have the proposed site designated a protected landmark.

The move is the latest in a series of delays for the 130-turbine Cape Wind project, which has been stuck in the planning stage for eight years following a high-profile campaign to block the development.