..I learned a lot about offshore wind power generation last week whilst in Norway recently.
While what I learned confirmed it is not a viable option for the US (O'Malleys' silly little project being a good example of that waste), I was surprised by how close to viability the technology has become in Europe; UK and Denmark in particular. They are close to achieving the necessary operating economies to at least compete with some land-based traditional sources of electrical power.
The fact that a KW-hour is worth considerably more "over there" is a factor, but the economies of scale are a bigger one. They are putting in wind farms on a massive scale..with one in the planning stages that is over 1,000 MW capacity....larger than all but the the largest existing shore-based power plants (coal or NG) currently operating in the UK.
While what I learned confirmed it is not a viable option for the US (O'Malleys' silly little project being a good example of that waste), I was surprised by how close to viability the technology has become in Europe; UK and Denmark in particular. They are close to achieving the necessary operating economies to at least compete with some land-based traditional sources of electrical power.
The fact that a KW-hour is worth considerably more "over there" is a factor, but the economies of scale are a bigger one. They are putting in wind farms on a massive scale..with one in the planning stages that is over 1,000 MW capacity....larger than all but the the largest existing shore-based power plants (coal or NG) currently operating in the UK.