Offshore wind turbines are a good idea

The Olympian • Published August 29, 2008

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Two years ago, 52 percent of Washington voters approved Initiative 937 which forces utility companies to promote conservation programs and invest in alternative energy sources to meet future electricity demands. The ballot measure was billed as a means to make wind, solar, tidal and wave-action energy realistic and affordable.

Now envision 400 super-size windmills spinning in a steady, stiff ocean breeze miles off the coasts of California, New England, the mid-Atlantic and Washington state and along the shores of the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.

The first tentative steps toward offshore wind generation are taking place, and we'd like to think that the vote on I-937 is an indication that Washington residents will embrace the concept. Surely it will be less controversial than the national debate about off-shore oil drilling, which has sparked an assortment of environmental concerns.

Department of Energy officials say winds blowing 15 miles or even farther off the U.S. coasts potentially could produce 900,000 megawatts of electricity, or roughly the same amount as nearly all of the nation's existing power sources combined.

That's clean, green energy.

Costs uncertain

Though the cost of these deepwater offshore wind farms isn't firm, some estimate the electricity they would produce could be nearly comparable in price to that generated at today's power plants.

"This is an energy frontier we are just starting to explore," said Walter Musial, a senior engineer with the Energy Department's Wind Technology Center in Colorado.

While some near-shore projects have sparked controversy because the giant windmills could be visible from the coastline, Musial and other engineers and scientists say they are looking at projects mostly at or beyond the horizon.

"This is not a betting man's game, but the potential is immense, no question about that," said Burton Hamner, president of Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Co., which has already identified a windmill site about a dozen or so miles off the Washington coast. "On the few days you could see them from shore, they would be about the size of your thumbnail."