Plans for offshore wind farm discussed at open house in Morehead City - Carolinacoastonline

Plans for offshore wind farm discussed at open house in Morehead City | News | carolinacoastonline.com

MOREHEAD CITY - The offshore wind industry is poised to bring a transformational change to the way eastern North Carolina sources its power in the upcoming decade.

On Tuesday, plans for an offshore wind farm off the Crystal Coast were up for public discussion at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.

The project, known as Kitty Hawk Wind, is a first-of-its-kind wind farm in the mid-Atlantic. A portion of the project is already currently underway in the waters off the Outer Banks with full-scale construction projected for the year 2028.

Plans show the maximum height for each giant turbine is 1,041 feet, almost twice as large as any on land. The turbines will be arranged in a grid pattern 27 miles offshore and be visible from land on a clear day. The energy output created in the farm will be enough to power 1 million homes.

The company leading the charge, Avangrid, is a leading renewable energy company based out of Portland, Oregon. Their objective in the state is to meet a 2021 goal set by N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper of developing 2.8 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 and up to 8 gigawatts within the next two decades.

The Kitty Hawk Wind project will is expected to exceed the short-term target output with a capacity of 3.5 gigawatts of energy, according to Avangrid Renewables Senior Director Megan Higgins. For perspective, an average nuclear power plant generates roughly 1 gigawatt.

"We are in the very early stages," Higgins said. "We have not yet submitted our state permits. We've submitted our major federal permit to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, but we are in the beginning stages of the permit process and construction."

Although no contracts have yet been signed, Avangrid plans to eventually sell power generated from their offshore wind farm back to established energy companies, such as Dominion Energy in Virginia or Duke Energy in North Carolina.

Earlier in the week, Avangrid employees hosted a similar open house discussion in Havelock about the development of offshore wind farms.

Public feedback gathered from the session saw many were interested to hear about the individual impacts to state taxpayers and how the turbine installation would affect the visual landscape.

"The large majority of people are in favor of the project and are curious to know about construction activities and service activities," Higgins said. "A lot of people want to know what job opportunities there are for the residents of North Carolina. We would partner with local community colleges to develop a curriculum for people who want to specialize in offshore wind operations and maintenance. It's a very specialized skill set, and we understand that the workforce here is not ready for some of the projects, but we are confident that the workforce will be developed."

Many of the jobs expected to be created with this wind farm include building the turbines, utilizing specialized marine vessels, operating working ports/substations and continuing daily maintenance efforts.

Kitty Hawk Offshore Engagement Director Ashley McLeod explained another big topic for the area is that of commercial fishing and shipping lanes.

"For a lot of folks, the big question is will people be able to fish within the wind energy area itself?" McLeod said. "They absolutely can. We also work with the Coast Guard to make sure everything's safe if they should need to get in a rescue. We're developing the project with all our safety in mind."

The wind energy area is 200 square miles and was selected to minimize impacts to military, commercial and recreational fishing and shipping industries, as well as to minimize impacts to the marine environment and coastal communities.

Landfall for the Kitty Hawk Wind project is anticipated to come ashore in North Carolina or Virginia.

An environmental assessment conducted in 2017 by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management found the project had "no significant impact," meaning the effects associated with offshore wind development and operation would not significantly impact the environment.

Together, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia use more than a third of the electrical consumption of the East Coast states from Maine to Georgia.

North Carolina also has the second highest energy potential for offshore wind on the East Coast, after Massachusetts, at over 600 terawatt hours per year, according to a 2021 policy report by the N.C. Commerce Department.

To capitalize on this potential energy source, the N.C. Commerce Department expects to see more than $100 billion invested in the state from offshore wind industry businesses in the upcoming decade.

Offshore wind farms work by using the force of the wind to rotate turbine blades, which will each measure 360 feet long. The blades spin a series of shafts, which are amplified more than 100 times by a gearbox. This kinetic energy is transformed into electricity by a generator and is fed through underground cables to a substation on land.

Even though the price of capturing wind energy is not quite as cost-effective as harnessing natural gas, expenses are rapidly decreasing due to technological advancements and economies of scale.

As more wind projects are developed, the cost of producing wind energy is expected to continue to decline, according to Higgins.

"I would say the levelized cost of energy is not quite where natural gas is, but it's certainly coming down," Higgins said. "As we develop projects, more and more of that cost will be equitable to stakeholders."

The specific impact of the Kitty Hawk Wind project on energy costs will depend on a number of factors, including the size and capacity of the wind farm, local energy demand and regulatory policies.

As the Kitty Hawk Wind project and others come online, they could help to lower energy costs in the long run. However, the expense of building offshore wind farms can be quite high and could potentially be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy prices in the short term, especially during early stages of the project.

Throughout the entire process, there will be federally mandated public hearings and additional open houses where local residents may contribute to the discussion.

For updates on the project, visit kittyhawkoffshore.com.