Offshore Wind Energy: Fishing for Details
Objections to wind energy are often from people who have had windmills erected near their homes.Whether it was their imagining something like the ancient scenic Dutch windmills, or the omissions in the sales pitch, some neihbors are disappointed with the outcome. This photo was taken from the porch of David Wylie’s home on Vinalhaven, Maine. Wylie noted low frequency vibration, noise, and visibility, which he gets for about a .02 cents per kilowatt savings on his electric bill. Dave Wylie Photo
Fishermen are bound to cross paths with offshore wind energy. At the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockland last month, some got their first look at how they may be sharing the Gulf of Maine with the state’s energy experiment. And while experiments forecast predictions, not certainties, details about how wind power will affect fishing are getting clearer.
While producing 5 gigawatts (GW) of energy from offshore wind, the state hopes to create 15,000 jobs. Although commercial development is at least 10 years away, the governor recently introduced emergency legislation aimed at streamlining commercial permitting. Industry and academia are preparing to deploy floating turbines at three temporary test sites in state waters. Commercial farms would be located in federal waters, about 20 miles from shore.
How large a swath of ocean will be devoted to energy will depend on the technology available when wind farms are constructed. The world’s only floating deep-water turbine (in Norwegian waters) produces 2.3 megawatts (MW). But Dr. Robert Lindyberg, an engineer with the University of Maine, said the industry is coming forward with 5MW turbines, and 10MW blades could follow.
If 5MW machines were deployed in the gulf, 1000 would be needed to fulfill the state’s goal, taking up roughly 220 square miles. If turbines were twice as powerful, half as many would be needed, but the amount of space used would be the same or slightly less. Either way wind farms, spread over about three areas, would consume less than 1 percent of the Gulf of Maine.
“Anecdotally, if you scaled the entire gulf to a football field, the amount of space 5GW would take up would be about the size of an outhouse,” said Dr. Lindyberg.
Loss of bottom is one of the only known effects of offshore wind farms on fishing. Fixed gear will most likely not be allowed, while mobile gear will definitely not. Cables bringing electricity ashore could be flanked by a one-quarter-mile exclusion zone.
Wind farms’ potential effects on fishing have raised other concerns, few of which can be quantified. Beyond the noisy construction process, vibrations and electromagnetic fields might affect fish and other marine life. Underwater cables could produce enough heat to change the composition of cold, benthic communities.
All scientific studies on offshore wind farms have been done in European waters. Many studies caution that regional differences in ecology make comparisons dubious and that 10 years of study is not enough to predict long-term certainties.
A 100-kilowatt turbine will likely be in the water off Monhegan Island in mid-2011. The DeepC Wind Consortium, the UMaine-led organization of about 30 industry and academic institutions, is working to advance the technology while completing the permitting process.
While environmental monitoring begins at the demonstration site this year, the consortium, including Bath Iron Works and Cianboro, will build and test model turbines in indoor wave tanks.
Between the wave tanks and subsequent near-shore deployment, the group hopes to test performance and demonstrate design possibilities. The temporary test site of Monhegan will be surrounded by a 500-foot fishing-exclusion zone.
Although a lawsuit threatens to slow or halt construction at Monhegan, opposition to wind energy has been strongest inshore. While a few citizen groups decry the state for pushing wind energy, many marine stakeholders express approval with the offshore process.
Fishermen have concerns, though. Glen Libby, President of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative, said fishermen do not always have time to participate in outreach measures.
While he is optimistic that turbines can be located in areas of minimal impact, he cautioned, “I hope before final decisions are made we have some serious input. I think you will see more participation when it gets down to crunch time.”
Jerry Cushman of Port Clyde expressed the reticence many fishermen feel in the face of new regulations. “There are a lot of uncertainties – and uncertainties always wind up biting me in the ass.”
Tidal power could provide clues about those uncertainties, though, particularly regarding how effectively alternative energy will create jobs.
Ocean Renewable Power Corpora- tion (ORPC) recently deployed the US’s largest tidal power generator in Cobscook Bay near Eastport. ORPC aims to produce about 100MW of tidal energy in Maine, a mere 2 percent of the goal for offshore wind. Despite the project’s smaller scale, in many ways the process mirrors what may happen off Monhegan.
John Ferald, Vice President of Development, says over the past two years ORPC’s Eastport project has created or retained 80 jobs in eight Maine counties. Coastal Mainers know how to work on the water, said Ferald. “This is a terrific opportunity for new careers.”
Many, including Dr. Lindyberg and Ferald, believe Maine has the technical skills to create an industry in turbine construction. They also envision a new service industry, including jobs in insurance, turbine maintenance and environmental monitoring.
Des Fitzgerald is the Vice President of Business Develop- ment with Principle Power, a Seattle-based company that wants to help bring the technology to the market. Offshore turbines will be too large to transport, says Fitzgerald, and turbines would need to be constructed close to where they are installed.
In order to capture the production flow in Maine, Ferald said “We need to make a leap from an excellent, hand-crafted product to an efficient production system.”
All of Maine’s efforts to promote offshore wind energy will eventually smooth the way for private industry to operate in federal waters. Minerals Manage- ment Service (MMS), the federal agency that will be responsible for permitting, has contracted a team of organizations to seek stakeholder input throughout the Northeast. According to the team, MMS hopes to mitigate space-use conflicts by having “in-depth interviews with commercial and recreational fishermen.”
Madeleine Hall-Arber works with MIT Sea Grant, a member of the contracted team. She said, “We have been asked to consider Portland, Maine as a potential site [for a stakeholder meeting].” Hall-Arber encourages FV readers to contact her at e-mail to:arber@mit.edu to have a voice in the federal process.