by Jbs051110 i3 — May 14, 2010—After almost a decade of federal study and analysis, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) recently approved the Cape Wind project, allowing the first U.S. offshore wind farm to move ahead, according to news from the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
Cape Wind is a 130-turbine wind power project on submerged federal lands in Nantucket Sound off the Massachusetts coast. DOI required the developer of the $1 billion wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impacts of construction and operation of the facility in response to tribal concerns.
Located in a 25-square-mile section of Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, the Cape Wind project will have a maximum electric output of 468 megawatts (MW), with an average anticipated output of 182 MW—sufficient to meet 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket Island combined. The Cape Wind developer plans to begin construction by the end of 2010.
