Cape Wind Basics

August 6, 2010 www.CapeWind.org 1

www.CapeWind.org


Energy Needs & Choices

• Energy demand is expected to increase 40% by 2025

• More coal and oil plants would further damage the environment

• New England is becoming over-reliant on natural gas

• New nuclear plants are not likely


Wind Power – renewable leader

• Fastest growing energy source in the world

• Substantial improvements in design & performance

• 12 years successful experience in Europe with ocean-based turbines



Why Nantucket Sound?

• Nantucket Sound is ideally suited for offshore wind energy development

–strong wind –relatively protected, shallow water –close to electrical interconnect–near regional load demand


Main Shipping Channel

Legend3 Mi. LimitShippingFlightCablesFerries

Site Analysis


Nantucket - 13.8 M

iles

Cotuit – 6.0 MilesPoint Gammon – 4.7 Miles

Oak Bluffs - 9.3 Miles

Edgartown – 8.9 M

iles

Proposed Site


Project Description

• 130 Wind turbines, delivering a maximum of 420MW of clean energy

• Grid spacing of approximately 1/2 by 1/3 mile (six by nine football fields)

• 246 feet hub height, 417 feet height (at the blade tip), 16 feet diameter at base

• No prohibition of watersheet uses

• Decommissioning plan


Cape Wind impacts• On average, produce ¾ of the electricity used on Cape &

Islands

• 600 – 1,000 New jobs to region in wind turbine manufacturing, assembly, ocean construction and 50 maintenance & operations jobs

• Eco-tourism and educational destination

• Lower wholesale electric prices, saving New England $25 million per year

• Reduced air pollution, offsetting over a million tons of CO2 per year = 220,000 cars

• Less demand for imported fuel – all fossil fuels are imported into New England


Cape and Islands electric load profilrofile:*• Peak load = 440MW• Average annual load = 230MW

*Approximate, based on 1999 ISO records

Cape Wind will produce 74% of the power used by the Cape & Islands

Cape Wind:Cape Wind:• Peak output = 420MW

• Average output = 170MW


Annual Amounts of Equivalent Fossil Fuel Offset by this Wind Power Project

• Oil - 113 Million gallons or• Coal - 570,000 tons or• Natural Gas - 10 Billion cubic

feet


Specific Environmental Benefits of this Wind Power Project

• Air Quality Improvements - Emission Offsets* – SO2 - 4,574 tons per year (Acid rain)

– NOx - 1,401 tons per year (Smog)

– CO2 - 1,097,000 tons/yr. (Greenhouse gas reduction)

* Based on rates per: 2000 NEPOOL Marginal Emission Rate Analysis


Utgrunden offshore project


Middlegrunden offshore project


Permitting Process• Federal NEPA and State MEPA Reviews, seventeen

participating agencies

• Tougher environmental permit review than was required of any coal, oil, or gas power plant in New England.

• The Environmental Impact reviews will cover alternative site analysis, project impacts on benthic, fish, marine mammals, avian, economic impacts, fishing, aesthetics…

• Will only be approved if federal and state agencies determine the project is in the Public Interest

• Cape Wind is willing to pay a lease to the federal government


Avian Radar Barge


Avian Radar


Geological ResearchGeological Research


Environmental Organizations that support continuing the public interest review of

Cape WindPartial List:

• Greenpeace, USA

• World Wildlife Fund

• Conservation Law Foundation

• Union of Concerned Scientists

• USPIRG

• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

• Friends of the Earth

• Clean Water Action


• Wind speed and direction (knots/deg)

•Calculate power output

•Calculate emission offsets

Measuring the WindMeasuring the Wind


Cape Wind Scientific Monitoring Station ~ Current Conditions In preparation for America’s first offshore wind farm, - capable of powering on average three-quarters of the Cape and Islands with clean, renewable energy - Cape Wind has erected a meteorological data tower on Horseshoe Shoal, in Nantucket Sound. As part of our continued commitment to the community we are providing current weather and sea conditions to the public.

Current ConditionsLast updated: Mon Dec 8 13:00:06 2003 EDST • Surface current speed, direction and water temperature are updated every 6 minutes. Wind speed, wind direction, air temperature and pressure are updated every 10 minutes. Wave height and direction are updated every 30 minutes.

The information at this website is provided for informational purposes only. Please see full disclaimer below.

Wind direction*† (WD): 318 deg

Wind speed* (WS): 15 knots

Barometric pressure** (BP): 1015.0 mb

Air temperature** (AT): 34.6° F

Sea temperature (ST): 43.0° F

Surface current speed (SCS): 0.9 knots

Surface current direction† (SCD): 188 deg

Significant wave height (SWH): 2.5 feet

Significant wave direction† (SWD): 318 deg *Reading taken at 20 meters above mean sea level** Reading taken at 10 meters above mean sea level† Wind, current and wave direction is in degrees clockwise from true North


What’s Happening?

• Tentative approval for the electric cable from the Massachusetts Energy Facility Siting Board

• Draft Environmental Impact Statement due out in August followed by several months of public comment period

Cape Wind Basics

Documents

wind power projectoil

cape islandscape wind

cape wind impactson

wind turbine manufacturing

public interestcape

iso recordscape wind

peak load

gas power plant