Granite Geek - Latest Comments in Big offshore wind farm in R.I. (but not that big)

Re: Big offshore wind farm in R.I. (but not that big)

DaveBrooks — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:54:04 -0000

You are absolutely correct ... not sure where I got that number, but it's crazy. What was I thinking? I have placed a new post, fixing it - thanks.

Re: Big offshore wind farm in R.I. (but not that big)

Wilj — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:23:20 -0000

Where did you get your information on the size of the windfarm?!?! It is my understanding that the project will be 400 megawatts. Although it is not known which turbine will be used, the rated capacity of a single offshore turbine these days is 3-5 megawatts. Inconceivable that they would put up a single, 1 megawatt turbine, even as a pilot phase...please, dig a little deeper.

As far as an "OK offshore wind farm by American standards", as we have yet to build one this seems pretty irrelevant. You're right about siting issues and distance to shore/connecting to the grid but as for the size of the project - the majority of offshore projects currently in development (Europe and US) are several hundred megawatts on average.

Re: Big offshore wind farm in R.I. (but not that big)

DaveBrooks — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:04:32 -0000

Yes, you're right: I dropped a decimal point, as I have noted in the now-corrected post.

Re: Big offshore wind farm in R.I. (but not that big)

M Murray, PSNH Spokesman — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:00:23 -0000

I tried to replicate your math and came up with a somewhat different answer of .0003, i.e., 3/10000ths....
In any event, here's another way of looking at the issue - call it The Merrimack:
478 MW x 8760 x 0.85 (capacity factor) = 3,559,188 megawatt hours/year.
Your 1 mw wind plant with a capacity factor of 0.33 has an output that is is 0.00081 the size of Merrimack Station.
Perhaps easier to understand is that it would require approx 1,231 one mw wind turbines to replace Merrimack Station.