Dominion Virginia Power won the right to develop the first wind energy farm off the Virginia coast in a federal lease auction Wednesday with a bid of $1.6 million.If nothing else, this emphasizes the low energy density of wind power. 112,799 acres makes it 176 square miles, far bigger than a city with 700,000 homes. By way of comparison, the local nuke plant, Calvert Cliffs, produces 1700 megawatts, and occupies about 2000 acres, a little over 3 square mile, of which 380 are developed for the plant site itself, and the remainder undeveloped.
Fully developed, the 112,799-acre lease could generate 2,000 megawatts, which would be enough energy to power more than 700,000 homes, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Virginia Bids Offshore Wind Power Site
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So Virginia is building an offshore wind-farm. You realize there will be days that the wind don't blow. So the production coverage area will have to have back-up generators, or battery backup to handle those days, which is more expensive then building a decent sized generator facility in the first place. Enviromentally it is better to have the wind/solar as a backup to a regular generator, not the other way around. That way you can sell the extra generated power off, at a premium, not having to buy someone elses extra generated power at a premium price.
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