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Ecogeek has a post on an offshore wind farm planned for the US great lakes - Nation's First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm Planned for Lake Erie. It's an exciting time in wind energy these days. The U.S. will be getting its first offshore wind farm thanks to Cape Wind's long-awaited approval, and now plans for the first freshwater offshore wind farm in the U.S. have been announced as well. The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp has signed a deal with GE to purchase five offshore wind turbines destined for the Ohio waters of the lake. The 4-MW turbines will be placed three to five miles offshore though their exact planned location isn't known. This is expected to be the first order of many from the development corp that has made a goal of having 1 GW of freshwater-based wind energy online by 2020."

"The UK wind industry is planning large offshore wind farms, some at considerable distance from shore and in deeper water. Round 3 sites are from 13 to 195 km from shore compared with 12 km for the most distant existing offshore wind farms. There is an urgent need to ensure that offshore wind turbine availability is underpinned by appropriate approaches to operations and maintenance supported by intelligent asset management. Glasgow is aiming to become a center of excellence in offshore wind through development of the ITREZ (International Technology and Renewable Energy Zone)."

If Europe wants to meet its 20% binding target for renewable energy by 2020, it must increase its use of offshore wind, delegates heard today at the opening of the Offshore Wind Conference in Berlin, Germany. Two concrete steps towards large scale deployment of offshore wind were taken this morning: the European Commission announced an offshore action plan for 2008, and regional cooperation was promoted through the signing of a trilateral offshore research agreement by Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

Irish-based Offshore wind energy developers today confirmed that they have projects at an advanced stage of preparation for the development of over 2,000mw of renewable energy in Irish waters at a capital cost of over €4 billion. The announcement was made by the five largest offshore wind companies in Ireland at the launch of NOW Ireland, a new organisation to promote the development of the offshore wind industry in Ireland.

To support the necessary growth and expansion of offshore wind in order to meet the EU's 20% renewables target, several barriers need to be overcome. Low feed-in tariffs for offshore, limited and costly grid connections and complex authorisation procedures are seen as key obstacles by the offshore industry, delegates heard at the second day of the European Offshore Wind Energy Conference in Berlin.

Offshore is promising, but still early days.

A major new research, development and demonstration initiative called the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) aims to cut the cost of offshore wind energy by 10% or more through a combination of wind farm cost reductions and performance improvements. It will focus on the short to medium-term, covering key topics related to wind farm design, construction and operation

On March 17, two U.S. government agencies announced they would work together to help spur the development of offshore energy projects. Under the agreement, the Interior Department has jurisdiction over offshore wind and solar energy projects, and the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) has jurisdiction over wave and tidal currents projects.

Moving offshore While all of Texas' producing wind turbines are currently on land, at least one offshore project is expected to start production in the next few years.

Germany has grand plans to build its first ever offshore wind farms in the North and Baltic Sea, a project that energy experts warn still has a long way to go in meeting formidable financial and technical challenges.

Project Nova's innovative aerogenerator wind turbine is based on a pair of giant V-shaped composite wings that will be scaled up to 120m high and rotate around the central axis to create power. Invented by David Sharpe and developed by Wind Power Limited, the aim is for a large-scale demonstrator to be installed offshore within six years and for offshore vertical-axis turbines to provide 1GW of power by 2020.

Historically, wind technology has been seen on land and near offshore locations. Restrictions, such as prohibitively expensive offshore foundations to support wind turbines larger than 20 meters, may be viewed as stunting potential market growth. Now, new technology based on floating turbines may enable deeper offshore placement. The view mentioned with this news is that pushing turbines further out to sea will equalise the issue of aesthetics. However, the real issue here is can this technology deliver a useful and economic addition to the grid.

...offshore wind is at least as much about offshore technologies as it is about wind technologies.

According to the European Commission, Europe's power plants are getting older and, combined with growing demand for energy, Europe will need 360 GW of energy from new sources in the next 12 years - this is equal to 50% of current energy capacity in the EU. The EWEA thinks that 40 GW of this energy can be produced by offshore wind.

"More than 800 giant wind turbines spin off the coasts of Denmark, Britain and seven other European countries, generating enough electricity from strong ocean breezes to power hundreds of thousands of homes. China's first offshore wind farm, a 102-megawatt venture near Shanghai, goes online this month, with more in the pipeline. Multimedia Map Related * Pressure Is Building on Disputed Wind Farm (April 26, 2010) * Green Blog: Who Will Build the First Offshore Wind Farm in North America? (April 26, 2010) * Times Topic: Wind Power Green A blog about energy, the environment and the bottom line. Go to Blog Enlarge This Image Julia Cumes/Associated Press The secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, near the site of the Cape Wind project. Enlarge This Image Julia Cumes/Associated Press Supporters and opponents of the wind farm outside the Coast Guard station in Woods Hole, Mass. But despite a decade of efforts, not a single offshore turbine has been built in the United States. "