The process of developing wind energy resources off the coast of North Carolina moved forward with the Jan. 22 release of an environmental assessment of activities supporting a potential lease sale for more than 300,000 acres of wind energy areas, including 185,000 acres clustered near the mouth of the Cape Fear River.
The environmental assessment explores the impact of site assessment activities, like installing meteorological towers and deploying buoys equipped with lasers used to measure wind speed, to better pinpoint the extent of available resources, said Southeastern Wind Coalition President Brian O’Hara.
“We’re talking about ships doing some surveying and potentially putting up a buoy or a meteorological tower,” O’Hara said. “It’s one more step in the process.”
O’Hara listed two prerequisite conditions for construction and operation of a successful offshore wind energy farm: a lease for the land and a market for the power. In addition to fulfilling another step in the process of holding a lease sale, the testing that falls under the environmental assessment could help establish a market, he said.
“It puts a lot more certainty around what the resource is and what time of day it delivers and how strong it is. Collecting data like this can add certainty to your resource potential and move you further along the path of having a market for that power,” O’Hara said.
The public is encouraged to comment on the environmental assessment. The ocean energy bureau scheduled three public meetings in North Carolina to explain the assessment and facilitate public comments, including a 5 p.m. Feb. 11 meeting in Wilmington at the Coastline Conference and Event ≠≠≠≠Center.
Following adoption of the environmental assessment, the ocean energy bureau will hold a lease sale, oversee site and resource assessments, and approve construction plans before the first wind farms off the East Coast can begin producing energy.
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