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New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg is envisioning a gigantic wind park off the shore of Long Island. At this point, a group of utilities and developers is making plans for a 350-megawatt wind farm comprising of more than 100 wind turbines. The cost for construction is estimated to be at around $ 1 billion.

The power generating capacity of 350 megawatts is sizable.  For comparison, the generating capacity of the nuclear power station at Three Mile Island, PA, is 802 megawatts. Usually, 1,000 megawatts is enough to power 750,000 households. If the wind park were able to supply 260,000 households with electricity, the investment of $1 billion would soon pay off. However, the 350 megawatts will only be available during peak winds. When there is only moderate wind or no wind at all, the power delivered will be much less than the rated capacity. Therefore, such a wind park could not replace another power station completely since it needs some back-up power plants for periods of light winds. Considering this, the $1 billion price tag is indeed very high.

Nevertheless, offshore wind farms usually always generate a certain amount of energy because off the coast, the wind is steady and blows harder than on land. Besides, wind energy is one of the most efficient renewable energy sources in areas where solar power is not economical due to low solar radiation. It could become competitive with conventional power sources before 2020. Especially large-scale offshore wind parks are expected to become increasingly profitable - even without many government subsidies.

One of the major remaining obstacles is power storage. The rate of power generation of wind parks differs greatly from one day to another, depending on wind strength. Only with an appropriate power storage system can offshore wind parks stabilize the grid and work efficiently. As conserving energy and reducing emissions by 30% is NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg’s declared goal, the growing fleet of plug-in hybrid cars, hybrid buses and electric cars can serve as a mobile energy storage system.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 5:00 PM and is filed under Electric Cars & Auto Industry, Energy, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.