North Carolina is poised to become a national leader in off-shore wind power.
A new study lead by researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) shows that the state could generate 100 percent of its power needs from off-shore wind turbines alone, without incurring any negative impacts on the environment or residents, reports CleanTechnica.com.
“You’d have to put up a tremendous number of turbines, and the power grid infrastructure would need to be upgraded,” said one of the study’s co-authors, marine ecologist Peter Peterson. “But even if you developed one-sixth of the offshore region suitable for wind farms, you could generate 20 percent of the state’s power needs.”
The state has a much more modest goal of having just 12.5 percent of its power sourced from renewable energy by 2021. The study essentially blows the state’s potential for sustainability out of the water.
Researchers involved in the study found that North Carolina has some of the best wind speeds in the country. They identified Onslow Bay and Raleigh Bay, about 20 miles off the coastline, as the best locations to capture wind power.
The study included researchers in a wide range of fields including “experts on birds, bats, insects, sea turtles, fish, butterflies and marine mammals … duck hunters, ecotourism professionals, whale watchers, park service workers, academics and fishermen,” so that all potential ecological consequences could be considered.
The team “found that the farther you get from land and the farther east you get from the barrier islands, the less risk there is to animals, as long as you avoid the marine-life rich Gulf Stream.” At that distance, the wind turbines would appear no taller than an inch from the coastline.
Next steps include plans for Duke Energy to build three pilot off-shore wind turbines in state waters, which would make North Carolina the first state to generate wind power from in-water turbines.
Interestingly, North Carolina is not the only state in the country that could be 100 powered by wind energy. Last year, the Department of the Interior found that 100 percent of US electricity demand could be met from off-shore wind. Now that would significantly reduce the country’s giant carbon footprint.
Photo by Martin Pettitt via Flickr.