Important Information About Offshore Wind
Offshore Wind Energy Industrialization: Facts and Maps
8% of the Continental Shelf
From Maine to North Carolina, the US Government plans to cover almost 8% of the US continental shelf along the Atlantic Coast, covering 22 million acres of Atlantic coastal waters.
1400 Square Miles
The nine offshore wind projects off the coast of RI and MA will industrialize 1400 square miles of ocean with up to 1000 turbines, each between 873-1000+ feet tall.
Coxes Ledge
Two of the projects off the coast of Rhode Island in the first map, Revolution Wind and SouthFork Wind, will cover the entire unique marine ecosystem called Coxes Ledge.
Construction
Preparation
Before they can begin pile driving and laying the cables, the offshore wind companies remove all of the boulders in the area and scrape away the intact ecosystem that exists on the ocean floor. Watch the Osbit PLP-240 in action here. Prior to this, they assess the undersea conditions by conducting geophysical and geotechnical seismic surveys. Ørsted has been dispatching seismic surveys since 2016 in preparation for the construction off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The timing of the surveys coincides with the onset of the Unusual Mortality Events for the minke, North Atlantic right, and humpback whales. More humpback whales have died in MA than any other state.
Pile Driving
Monopiles, up to 39-46 feet in diameter, are hammered approximately 150-250 feet deep into the seabed. Ships, such as the Bokalift 1 and 2, have been off our coast for the past two years pile driving. Each pile requires approximately 10,000 hammer strikes. A single strike could generate 4000 kjoules of energy that propagates through the underwater environment as deadly sound waves.
Scour Protection
After the monopiles are rammed 150-300 feet into the seafloor, boulders are piled up around the foundations. These will crush any remaining sea life and typically covers a region as large as a football field for a single monopile.
Can we mitigate the harm of construction?
Bubble Curtains
BOEM and NOAA admit that bubble curtains have no effect on the sound waves less than 200 Hz. Unfortunately, the baleen whales, such as the North Atlantic right whales are particularly sensitive to sounds between 15-500 Hz. Thus, bubble curtains will not protect these species.
Fish Kills
BOEM and NOAA presented evidence for fish kills near the pile-driving activities for two offshore projects. 17,172 dead Atlantic Croakers were reported by protected species observers during the pile driving in Virginia for the CVOW project. Necropsies revealed sound exposure and gas accumulation caused the deaths. 12-31 dead Hake were observed near Revolution Wind during pile driving. Necropsies were NOT performed on these fish. Neither agency had a solution to the fish kills. If pile driving causes this type of injury in fish, what about marine mammals?
How Much Electricity?
When reporters and our politicians state Revolution Wind will power “350,000 homes,” what does that really mean? In reality, the project might generate enough electricity, in the best of times, to power that number of homes in a single instance, but not continuously nor during peak usage. Offshore wind projects will generate electricity primarily at night, in the winter, when no one is using air-conditioning or light. They cannot store this power. The old fact sheet, which is no longer posted on the Revolution Wind website, stated, “When energy usage is highest, the wind farm will complement existing energy sources to help ensure the area has enough power during peak hours. When energy needs are lower, the wind farm will generate enough electricity to power a combined 350,000 Connecticut and Rhode Island homes.”
Blades and Blade Failures
How often will blades fail?
An analysis of insurance claims suggests wind turbine blades fail more frequently than recognized. The failure rate, according to insurance claims and reported in Wind Power Monthly, could be as high as 1 in every 3,800 a year. This may not seem like a lot, but if 1000 turbines are constructed off the shores of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, we may see 8 such environmental catastrophes in the next decade. Each blade weighs 70 tons. That means offshore wind projects could dump over 500 tons of toxic plastics that will pollute our waters, beaches, and ultimately, our seafood every 10 years or so.
Blade Debris
Blade debris, often sharp, full of fiberglass and other toxic substances, closed Nantucket beaches and washed up in coastal communities far afield from the original disaster. Westport and Rhode Island residents made multiple reports to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management about the debris, but these state agencies did nothing to help. Watch the WCVB clip here.
Why Didn’t We Understand the risk?
None of the Environmental Impact Statements for any of the projects approved for the Rhode Island/Massachusetts wind energy lease area considered the risk of blade failures in their analysis. Green Oceans requested that BOEM revoke permits and redo the environmental impact assessment to incorporate blade failure risks. The US Government has failed to respond.
How Tall are the Turbines?
The turbines off RI and MA will be larger than any turbines in the world.
Ørsted is installing Siemens Gamesa SG-11 turbines. They will stand between 873-1100 feet tall, taller than any building in Boston. Larger turbines destroy more ocean floor, generate more heat from their transmission lines, and will be more vulnerable to the stress from the harsh Atlantic environment. Size matters.
How the Earth’s Curvature Affects Visibility
Will you see them?
Is bigger always better?
These turbine blades each weigh 50-70 tons. The Vineyard Wind blade crisis off the coast of Nantucket illustrates why bigger is not always better. Just one blade failure dumped nearly 50 tons of toxins into our ocean waters, potentially contaminating our seafood.
Why Bigger is Not Always Better
Modern Power Systems' report on GCube analysis. Analysis of the vertical limit for offshore wind turbines.
Large blades have big environmental impacts.
Each blade will extend almost 300 feet and is constructed from Balsa wood impregnated with epoxy resins. The blades for ONE turbine require the destruction of more than 40 Balsa trees. Lumbar harvesters are pillaging the Amazon rainforests to supply wind companies with the wood they need. Siemens Gamesa is the single largest consumer of Balsa wood in the world.
How the wind power boom set off a scramble for balsa wood in Ecuador
What about Decommissioning?
Who is liable?
Once built, developers will disassociate themselves from the liability by turning each project into a limited liability company (LLC). BOEM does not require specific decommissioning plans.
The Problem With Decommissioning
Written by Elizabeth (Lisa) Quattrocki Knight, MD, PhD and Bill Thompson for Green Oceans
Who pays?
The Federal agency, BOEM, has released the developers, all multi-billion dollar foreign companies, from their obligation to set aside funds for decommissioning during the first fifteen years after the start of commercial operation. What happens if they fail before then?
BOEM's New Modernization Rule: Document from the US Federal Register
BOEM approves Revolution Wind’s “Departure Request”
How much will it cost?
Some estimate the cost of decommissioning could reach 70% of construction costs. With over 1000 turbines slated for the waters off RI and MA, this could cost over 30 billion dollars.
A multi-attribute review toward effective planning of end-of-life strategies for offshore wind farms
Ali Jadali, Anastasia Ioannou & Athanasios Kolios
The need for decommissioning has begun to arise in Europe. Here is an analysis of the cost.