Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC, would like to have everyone believe that their projects are necessary, and that progress in wind energy development will be stifled significantly if the Department of Energy doesn't elect to grant their for-profit venture the right to eminent domain to condemn roughly 17,000 acres in Arkansas and Oklahoma. This is, of course, a false dichotomy. Technology and progress in both offshore wind, as well as the potential for wind energy development in the Southeast are outpacing any implied need for this project. In short, this project will be obsolete before the first shovel hits the ground.
This is a good thing. The Department of Energy has no business granting favoritism to a private, for profit business venture in the first place. The country needs to be moving renewable energy forward in a smart way that benefits the country as a whole, not just a few billionaire investors.
Clean Line will tell you that the wind resources for the Southeast are inadequate for development, and that their idea is the best one to solve this problem. The reason they tell you this is because they use outdated wind resource maps to justify their (obsolete) position. Let me give you reasoning why.
In all of their supporting documentation, Clean Line likes to use the following image. This image represents the wind resources within the United States based upon an 80 meter turbine height:
Looking at that map, you might just buy into Clean Line's argument that their idea is a great idea for the Southeast. Generally the darker colors represent better wind resources with, apparently, few resources in the Southeastern U.S. The only problem with this: this map was created in 2011. Newer maps based upon newer data, taller turbines, and more efficient blade design have been created.
In the next example, I will show you current technology that is being deployed right now, as we speak, at the 110 meter turbine height. This map was released in November of 2014:
In the above map, as with the first, the darker the color, the higher the strength of wind resource available. You might say: "It still looks like the Southeast lacks the resources for wind to become a viable option for them." I would tell you that you are right. However, let's take a look at what happens to the resource potential in the Southeast when the latest technology in development is deployed. This technology will be deployed in the next few years, and would represent 140 meter turbine height:
In the above map, the Southeast looks just a little bit better for wind energy development, doesn't it? Clean Line won't show you this map, however, because it doesn't fit the narrative for their nearly six year old idea.
Let's now take a closer look at the wind resource in each state in the Southeast and apply new technology to it, shall we?
Arkansas:
Tennessee:
North Carolina:
South Carolina:
Louisiana:
Mississippi:
Alabama:
Georgia:
Florida:
As you can see in the above up-to-date maps, the Southeast will be available for wind development in the very near future. This, however, doesn't even take into account the vast resources that are available off our coastlines, and particularly the Atlantic coast to which Clean Line would like to serve. The image below represents the potential wind resource that is housed within our coastal waters:
Offshore wind resources are abundant, stronger, and blow more consistently than land-based wind resources. Data on the technical resource potential suggest more than 4,000,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity could be accessed in state and federal waters along the coasts of the United States and the Great Lakes. While not all of this resource potential will realistically be developed, the magnitude (approximately four times the combined generating capacity of all U.S. electric power plants) represents a substantial opportunity to generate electricity near coastal populations.
We are moving in that direction. In a recent
article, it is noted that the Interior Department recently announced an environmental study that supports the lease of 300,000 acres off the coast of North Carolina. According to the article:
The Interior Department has released an environmental study that supports the potential lease of 300,000 acres off the North Carolina coast for wind farms.
Leases could be sold to wind developers in three areas of federal waters off the coast. At least five companies have expressed interest in developing wind projects off North Carolina.
“In close coordination with our partners in North Carolina, we are moving forward to determine what places make sense to harness the enormous wind energy potential off the Atlantic seaboard,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement Thursday.
The areas selected include about 122,000 acres 24 miles off Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks. An area of 51,000 acres is 10 miles off Wilmington and 133,000 acres is 15 miles off Bald Head Island near Southport, on the state’s southern tip.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, part of the Interior Department, says those areas were picked because they protect views from shore and wildlife habitat. The wind zones would also not conflict with military operations, fishing or shipping.
Other areas are being investigated for development, as well. I will provide a more detailed offshore wind post in the future, as I don't want to make this post too long. If you have managed to make it this far, I appreciate your interest in this issue.
In closing, we are at a crossroads in this country regarding the development of renewable energy. With this post, I am not attempting to sway any person's opinion about any given source of energy. I haven't even gotten into the potential for distributed generation via solar and micro wind, biomass, and other technologies that are available. I simply write this to show everyone that, of all the options we have, Clean Line's is likely the most damaging to private landowners, the least environmentally responsible, and the least beneficial to the country as a whole.
As the states of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and as a country, we are going to have to decide which direction we are going to take. Are we going to allow an inexperienced company that was formed in 2009 that has never built anything with an outdated idea trample all over private property rights by using Section 1222 federal eminent domain to construct a 720 mile long transmission line through tornado alley, areas sacred to tribes, thousands of parcels of private land that people have been planning their futures around for multiple generations, obsolete before construction has commenced, all for the private gain of a few billionaires? Or, are we going to embrace new technologies that are local to the load centers they are to service, beneficial to local economies that are spread across the country, more secure and more efficient, and less damaging to individual populations?
I happen to think the answer is pretty clear. In a
letter from Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, dated April 5, 2012, he laid out the conditions by which the DoE would enter into an advanced funding agreement with Clean Line. One of the conditions is as follows:
There are literally thousands of people who are under tremendous amounts of stress, putting future plans on hold, wasting countless hours of time, money, and resources, on behalf of this bad idea. It is time for Secretary Moniz to utilize his exit clause.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/22/4495889/feds-propose-wind-energy-leases.html#storylink=cpy
