Feds to Lease Land for NJ Offshore Wind

The federal government is lending a hand to the struggling wind energy sector by leasing almost 350 acres of the ocean floor off the New Jersey coast for turbines, according to NorthJersey.com.

The plan is to auction two leases between Nov. 9-13. The seafloor at auction could potentially support turbines that generate 3,400 MW of electricity, which is enough to power about 1.2 million homes. This is not the first time that the government has helped the industry. The feds have awarded $14.5 million in leases for projects off the coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia. Construction has begun on the Rhode Island project.

Despite its setbacks, the international offshore wind industry has made some progress. Transmission and Distribution World reports that the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm is operational. It is in the North Sea off the English coast. The farm, which is owned by Dong Energy, Marubeni Corp. and the UK Green Investment Bank, features 35 Siemens wind turbines. Each has a capacity of 6 MW and a rotor diameter of 154 meters.