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Wind Power News: Delaware
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Skipjack wind farm completion date pushed back by permitting delay
The Skipjack wind-farm project, which has met with opposition from coastal residents since it was announced last October, recently announced that federal permitting issues will cause a one-year delay in the project’s expected completion date. The project, which would be located 19 miles off the Maryland-Delaware coast, would include 12 megawatt turbines that would be about 800 feet tall. The planned size of the turbines was increased last year; the larger turbines would mean that fewer are required to produce . . . Complete story »
Delaware lawmakers propose more solar, wind farms with new bill
Delaware lawmakers want to make Delaware a little greener by promoting more solar energy farms. The effort announced on Tuesday would require utility companies – namely Delmarva Power – to get a greater percentage of their electricity from wind or solar energy by either buying it or creating it themselves. Right now, the goal of Delaware’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which was created in 2005, is to get 25% of Delaware’s energy from renewable sources by 2025. This new measure would require 40% . . . Complete story »
Reader: Skipjack Wind moves forward, blindly
Regarding “Wind farm company meets with local contractors,” Coastal Point, Feb. 14, 2020: It appears as if the Skipjack Wind project off the coast of Delaware has all the permits pre-approved, as contractors are posed to submit requests for proposals (RFP’s) on land-based construction projects (i.e. the Fenwick Island State Park improvements). Public concern as to the scope and due process of this project is warranted. Both the federal and state permits required to build structures in the ocean and . . . Complete story »
South Bethany preps stances on wind farm, election rules, landscaping
South Bethany has passed a resolution regarding the proposed offshore wind project and proposed amenities at Fenwick Island State Park being offered by the developer in exchange for an electric hookup location there. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control (DNREC) did not notify coastal towns about the proposal before the general public-comments process opened last autumn. “They’re still in the early planning stages, and coastal communities have not been included in any of the discussion of the . . . Complete story »
Evidentiary hearings to open over concerns about Skipjack wind turbines
FENWICK ISLAND, Del.- Wind farms are the center of attention once again as evidentiary hearings for the Skipjack project off of the Ocean City coast will soon be opened. The Maryland Public Service Commission said it will open up the hearings to address concerns that were brought up at a public hearing held in Ocean City back in January. The commission will focus on the impact the turbine selection and change will have on local communities. Officials in Delaware, however, . . . Complete story »
Maryland to hold new hearings on offshore wind turbine height
Nearly a month after hundreds of people filled the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, Md., to comment on changes in plans for two wind-farm projects off the Delmarva coast, Maryland’s Public Service Commission has agreed to hold new hearings on the projects. The hearings will focus on plans to change the height of the wind turbines proposed for two projects, U.S. Wind and Skipjack. As now proposed, the turbines for the two projects would be 12 megawatts . . . Complete story »
Delawareans should not rely on state to make wind farm decision
Delawareans must form an independent conclusion on DNREC’s proposal to house Ørsted’s two-acre electricity substation at Fenwick Island State Park because DNREC is bound to a joint communication strategy and nondisclosure agreement with the corporate and cannot be trusted to convey unbiased information. DNREC has neglected to provide Delawareans two key data points. First, the proposal would meaningfully harm undisturbed and protected wetlands. Impermeable surface at the state park would increase nearly fourfold and currently undisturbed ocean-to-bay coastal wetlands would . . . Complete story »
Huge crowd has its say on wind farms off Maryland and Delaware coast, now the wait begins
OCEAN CITY, Md.- It is now a waiting game for those hoping for changes to two large winds farms off the coasts of Maryland and Delaware. A standing room only crowd of several hundred people descended in Ocean City on Saturday to hear and be heard on the issue. This past fall, the two companies hoping to build the wind farms increased the size of the turbines used to generate power to over 850 feet. Ocean City’s mayor, Rick Meehan, . . . Complete story »
Hundreds attend offshore wind hearing in Ocean City
OCEAN CITY – The detriments and merits of super-sized wind turbines offshore were the subject of Saturday’s five-hour-plus public hearing, which ended with state officials mulling a re-opening of an evidentiary hearing on the proposed projects. In December, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) issued an order opining the proposed changes in wind turbine heights for two approved offshore wind energy projects off the resort’s coast represented a “substantial change” in what was first approved in 2017 and that the changes . . . Complete story »
Public submits robust input on turbines
After two month-long extensions, the state closed public comment Jan. 15 on Ørsted’s controversial proposal to connect the company’s offshore wind farm to the electrical grid by passing through Fenwick Island State Park. The connection project was revealed in late September. In return for being allowed to connect the wind farm, Ørsted has proposed $18 million of improvements at the state park. State Parks Director Ray Bivens said the second extension for comments was added because local officials and legislators . . . Complete story »
