Cruising World - November - December 2016

40

november/december 2016

cruisingworld.com

O

nce all the paperwork was

done and the foundations were

installed on the bottom of

the ocean, it took only about a month

for the fi rst of shore wind turbines to

become fully erected. And then, they

were there: fi ve of them, all in a line,

standing watch over Rhode Island’s

Block Island Sound like Don Quixote’s

giants, spinning around and around with

240-foot-long blades to produce what

will eventually become 90 percent of

Block Island’s energy supply in the next

few years.

And should all go well with these fi ve

wind turbines, there’s already a plan in

place for the next chapter of of shore

wind energy. Deepwater Wind, the com-

pany responsible for building the fi rst

fi ve of shore wind turbines ever con-

structed in United States waters, has

already announced that it intends to

build another 200 turbines in Rhode

Island waters over the next fi ve years.

Deepwater Wind isn’t the only com-

pany in America aiming to capitalize on

the rise of the of shore wind industry. The

federal government recently awarded 11

leases of the coastlines of New Jersey,

Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia for

the purpose of companies building more

wind turbines. In California, another

company, called Trident Winds, has just

started working on a project to create 100

“fl oating of shore wind systems” (FOWs,

as they’re called).

What does all this mean for sailors trav-

eling through these waters?

All Eyes on Britain

If there’s one country that

the United States is paying

attention to when it comes

to of shore wind power, it’s

the United Kingdom. As

of 2015, at last count there

were 1,650 wind turbines in

U.K. waters — 175 of them

alone in the London Array,

the largest of shore wind

farm in the world. In 2008,

after the United Kingdom

overtook Denmark to

become the world leader

in of shore wind power, it was estimated

that it possessed over a third of Europe’s

total of shore wind resources. With all that

potential, it’s no wonder the country is

building up its capacity as quickly as it can.

Helping in the process is the Royal

Yachting Association, which for many

years has facilitated the conversation

between recreational sailors and the of -

shore wind industry.

“Our feedback to date from our mem-

bers is that they haven’t had any problems

sailing through wind farms,” said RYA

cruising manager Stuart Carruthers in an

interview with U.K. magazine Yachting

Monthly in 2012. “But it should be stressed

that the wind farms we’re talking about

are limited to 10 square kilometers

and a maximum of 30 turbines, so the

Here’s what sailors should know about offshore wind farms.

BY TYSON BOTTENUS

ON the HORIZON

KERSEY STURDIVANT/INSPIRE ENVIRONMENTAL

The nation’s fi rst of -

shore wind farm is just

of Block Island, Rhode

Island.

Green Wakes