LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Interior to unveil plans for offshore wind leases 

Credit:  By Zack Colman | E2 Wire | The Hill | June 3, 2013 | thehill.com ~~

The Interior Department will release details for the first federal offshore wind lease sale Tuesday, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced in a Monday media call.

Jewell said the lease sale would be for a plot off the Atlantic coast, and said it could serve as a litmus test of industry demand for offshore wind.

“If there is good interest in this one, then I think you will have this happening on a consistent basis,” she said of the pending offshore wind announcement.

Interior also announced the approval of three renewable energy projects on federal lands in Arizona and Nevada. The solar and geothermal facilities will generate 520 megawatts of power, which is enough to power 200,000 homes, according to Interior.

On the offshore wind front, Jewell said selecting a site for the first lease sale took a considerable amount of time.

Jewell said Interior considered many factors, including which areas would yield the highest potential for wind power while avoiding bird migration patterns and shipping lanes.

She said timing for developing a commercial offshore wind industry, however, is up to the private sector.

“I can’t promise that they will be in production in four years, but we don’t want to be a roadblock,” Jewell said. “The market will dictate, but we certainly don’t want to get in the way.”

Jewell said she thinks “the demand is out there” for offshore wind, noting outdoor gear giant REI Inc. purchased wind and solar power as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when she led the company.

Financing offshore wind projects, though, has proven more elusive than the onshore variety.

The onshore wind industry has benefited from 20 years of production tax credits, which repay wind power producers for generated electricity.

But the production tax credit model is less effective for offshore wind projects because they’re more expensive and need up-front incentives to get started, industry experts say.

Offshore wind advocates have instead backed investment tax credits, which subsidize projects based on total cost.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have introduced legislation that would offer a 30 percent investment tax credit for the first 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind facilities. Once awarded a credit, the developers would have five years to install the turbines.

New Jersey Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D) and Frank LoBiondo (R) co-sponsor the House version.

Source:  By Zack Colman | E2 Wire | The Hill | June 3, 2013 | thehill.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon