For more than a year, a tiny Chapel Hill company has been laying plans for a project that would catapult North Carolina into a national leadership role in offshore wind energy development. Outer Banks Ocean Energy Corp. is eyeing federal waters about 25 miles offshore to chase a dream of harnessing pollution-free electricity generated by some of the nation's best wind resources.

An offshore wind farm has yet to be built in this country, and the hurdles are formidable. North Carolina is considered to have excellent wind resources, but fierce opposition has shot down proposals to build commercial wind projects in the mountains and on the coast.

The recession has slowed down the whole wind industry this year, from materials to final assembly of turbines. Experts say that getting it up to speed to produce the number of turbines needed to generate large amounts of renewable energy will require more government support and innovation to make the parts lighter, stronger and cheaper.

The planned Cape Lookout Energy Preserve likely would have to overcome intense public criticism and rigorous environmental scrutiny. The project could take seven years and would cost at least $900 million. The company would have to secure hurricane-resistant towers to the ocean floor.

Outers Banks' founder Donald Evans, 74, an entrepreneur, calls the project a "colossal undertaking" but considers wind one of the country's best energy options. "Offshore wind is an inexhaustible, clean energy resource," he said. "It's been there since the Earth was here."

In the coming months, his company plans to hold community meetings in the state's coastal counties to introduce the project to the public. The company also will apply for a federal permit to build towers in the ocean to test wind speeds.

Wind provides a little more than 1 percent of the nation's electricity, but it's the fastest-growing form of renewable power. Wall Street financiers and state governments are betting on wind power and other forms of renewable energy as states enact renewable mandates and Congress debates global warming legislation. The Obama Administration's stimulus package will pump in $3 billion to cover 30 percent of the costs for wind farms and other renewable energy projects.

But North Carolina lags other states that offer financial incentives and have brokered compromises with opponents of offshore wind farms.

"It's an embryonic industry in the U.S., and developers are going to focus their resources and personnel on the most compelling projects," said Rob Propes, project director for the Carolinas and Delaware at Bluewater Wind, which is developing projects from Virginia to New England.

Still, Evans expects North Carolina officials to follow the lead of other states. Outer Banks' proposed 200-megawatt wind farm would generate enough power for about 42,000 homes. The project would require underwater transmission cables costing at least $2 million per mile to come ashore over beaches, dunes or wetland.

Each turbine blade would reach 465 feet into the sky. This power plant consists of oversize, three-blade propellers that turn tower-mounted generators. At least 50 towers would be required for the first phase, but the exact total would be determined by the power capacity of the type of turbine selected.

Even at such a dizzying height, the array of whirling blades would not be visible 25 miles from shore. Plans call for eventually tripling the size of the wind farm to at least 150 towers spread out over 54 square miles if demand for the electricity increases.

The Cape Lookout Energy Preserve wouldn't generate electricity until 2014 at the earliest - two years behind a bitterly contested wind farm under development on Cape Cod, and a year behind a controversy-ridden Bluewater Wind project in Delaware. In South Carolina, the Santee Cooper power company has begun testing wind speeds offshore from the Grand Strand as part of a plan to develop an ocean-based wind farm.

The Chapel Hill company still would have to run detailed studies on sea bed formation, bird flight patterns and fish movements, as well as commercial shipping lanes and military training zones. Large offshore tracts likely would be removed from consideration by conflicting recreational, environmental, commercial and military uses.

The blades could pose a threat to birds, and the towers could confuse sea turtles and other marine animals, but data are scant about offshore effects and would require study.

Evans won't say how much money the Outer Banks company has raised or from whom, but he estimates it will need $38 million to $45 million for the initial environmental and engineering studies.

Evans said he has discussed the project with Progress Energy and Duke Energy, the power companies that likely would buy the power from the Cape Lookout Energy Preserve if it is built. Support from the state's politically powerful utilities depends on how much they would have to pay for the electricity.

"They say, 'As long as the cost parameters are in line, we're your friend,'" Evans said.