Duke Energy continues wind streak with new offshore turbines

Less than a week after bringing large wind farms online in Pennsylvania and Wyoming, Duke Energy has unveiled a new offshore wind project. Partnering with the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, the southern utility is funding a pilot study of three offshore wind turbines in Pamlico Sound, off the state’s coast.

The goal of the study is to determine how much large-scale offshore wind development would cost in the region, as well as how feasible long-term generation there would be. A prior research project ending in June suggested that it would be an ideal location for wind generation. Duke hasn’t disclosed how much money it will provide for the project, saying only that it is still shopping around for a turbine supplier, and that it expects the equipment to be up and running within a year. A spokesman estimated the sum in the tens of millions.

Notably, the Duke-UNC turbines will be the first of their kind installed in U.S. offshore waters (though they will soon be followed by similar models off the coast of Rhode Island). Considering that Europe has been cultivating offshore wind farms since the 1990s, America is astonishingly behind. Duke hopes to turn this around, but is definitely starting small.

A greenlight on offshore development doesn’t just depend on the outcome of the study — the U.S. Department of the Interior will also need to grant permits for the building of wind farms in federal-owned waters — something the department has said is over a year away. Approval could be a big win for the state of North Carolina, potentially creating hundreds if not thousands of green jobs.

Duke has been making a major push into wind, with 634 megawatts worth of turbines already operating on land in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and Texas, 99 megawatts currently being built, and 251 megawatts-worth of projects in the hopper. Expanding into offshore would give it even more, less expensive space to expand.

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