Off the coast of New England states, four times the generating capacity of today’s electric grid blows off the Atlantic. Maine is trying to be the home of the country’s first offshore wind farm. Thousands of miles along the New England shoreline have already been designated as possible energy supply areas by the Department of Energy. Maine’s $120 million project has already gained a lot of support.
There are already plans in the works to test this idea on a small scale– a small station is set to be ready in 2013. If all goes well, this could be a huge boost for wind energy advocates and eco job-seekers.
Everything will be assembled dockside, without heavy vessels to install towers, and turbines will be floated more than 20 miles out to sea, where wind blows much stronger, and then anchored.