Before we choose to build an offshore wind power plant, we should be aware of some engineering problems with wind power. In particular, too much wind is a problem. ...Let's imagine that the facility was already built and operating. As winds pick up, windmills spin and generate a full 450 megawatts. When the wind speed hits about 55 mph, the windmills shut down for safety reasons. In about 2 minutes, the output from the facility goes from 450 megawatts to zero.

Reports coming out of Dover hold that the two sides in the great battle of the offshore wind farm are negotiating. Where they will lead, we don't know. ...The legislators passed a law directing Delmarva Power to find a reliable local source of electrical power and ended up with that, plus an almost religious battle over offshore wind power. Delmarva opposed this setup from the beginning. And never too far away is the spectre of a long legal fight that could delay action even longer. ...Listening to the radio advertisements put out by both sides is like going on a roller coaster ride. True believers on either side of the fight have no trouble finding the truth, but everyone left in the middle is dizzy and slightly sick to the stomach.

Prior to building a wind turbine installation, a wind speed study should be conducted over the course of a year. Such a study will result in optimum design. ...The University of Delaware has a proposal to conduct such a study. It should proceed. No further work on wind power contracts should proceed until sufficient data is obtained. ...Fully study local wind conditions before spending billions of dollars to build wind farms in the ocean or on land.

Wind farm generation may be in our future. However, the proposal that is currently before Delmarva Power customers for offshore wind generation is fraught with many problems. If an offshore wind farm has to be built, it should be adjacent to a utility that has a greater customer base than Delmarva has, so the cost per customer would be less.

The wind farm scandal is getting so serious that it's time for Gov. Minner to step in and do what Delaware leaders have always done: Appoint a task force. Make it a deconfusion task force. The governor should task a blue-ribbon panel of first-rate clarifiers to sort through the hyperbole, palaver, double talk, embellishments, dissembling and plain old silliness that have surrounded the debate as to whether the state should have a wind turbine farm in the ocean off Rehoboth Beach. In other words, a panel should find out what in the world is going on ...Lost in this confusion is a simple question: Is the Bluewater bid a good deal or a bad deal for Delaware? Pick one.

The Bluewater Wind offshore wind farm proposal exploits the Delaware Renewable Portfolio Standard Act intended to foster the use of renewable energy sources. ...To qualify as an electricity supplier, BWW has to offer a supply that meets customer needs all the time, not just to the extent the wind blows. The BWW proposal drafts Delmarva as its supply partner, reducing supplier competition. Further, Delmarva's SOS customers may lose the right to choose another supplier if the BWW take-or-pay wind and Delmarva backup power partnership proves expensive. They could be locked in for 25 years.

Many people have been asking why the Senate Energy and Transit Committee is holding hearings on the state's green energy options during the General Assembly's budget break. My simple answer is that, as elected officials, we owe it to our citizens to gather as much information as possible on this fast-evolving subject before locking our people into the largest state-mandated contract in Delaware's history. ...Senate leaders hope these hearings can address lingering concerns about the proposed power purchase agreement and how it would affect Delaware's future.

Fifty million dollars to $70 million per year for 25 years --- well over a billion dollars -- this is what is at stake in this critical issue for our customers, and unfortunately only our customers. Much has been said lately about the need to move toward renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, and how best to do so. Our obligation to our customers is clear, and over the past few years I have heard it repeatedly up and down the Peninsula: We need to increase our use of renewable energy and keep the rates low. ...

For a variety of reasons, the proposed Bluewater wind farm is a bad idea and should be rejected. I propose an alternative that the state should consider. ... The proposed facility off the coast of Rehoboth Beach has some advantages. Being miles offshore, problems with bird and bat kills and noise should be minimized. The windmills will be mostly invisible from the beaches. The main problems are the Bluewater proposal will be very expensive and will supply relatively little power. ...Engineering experience in Europe indicates that wind farms average about 20 percent of their maximum capacity. The Bluewater proposal is for a 450- megawatt system, but Delmarva would be obligated to buy only 300 megawatts at a time. The average output would be about 60 to 90 megawatts -- only 5 percent to 7 percent of Delaware's current electrical load. Even this estimate likely overstates the wind farm's contribution. Not only do winds vary, they vary unpredictably. Even with the best hourly weather forecasts, prediction errors will be made. To counter these random variations and provide a constant voltage on the electrical grid, some extra power will be generated -- and wasted.

Controller General Russ Larson's vote is supposed to represent the wishes of the legislators. The final vote to accept the offshore wind proposal was scheduled for 12/18/07. ...the initial recommendation of the PSC was misrepresented and the idea was put forth to spread the cost over all of the energy users in Delaware. That is not acceptable to those legislators who primarily represent Delaware Electric Co-Op customers and I agree with them. Part of my district uses the Co-Op but the majority are Delmarva customers. It would not be fair to impose what could be considered a tax on a company to help pay the costs of another company when the first company receives no benefit for the increased cost. With that proposal, some of the legislative support collapsed and Russ was left dangling in the wind on the day of the vote. He did the best thing he could have possibly done by asking to postpone the vote. Forcing a vote at that time with such uncertainty on the part of the legislature would have surely doomed the proposal.

Because wind-driven electrical generators would be located in the ocean, the corrosion effects will result in more down time and higher maintenance costs ...

... since any wind farm construction would be several years away anyway, there is no urgency to stop the clock on negotiations now. This also matters because a Delaware wind farm could be the first offshore in the nation. Although there are land installations across the country, other wind projects off Cape Cod and Long Island have been stymied by controversy, including over aesthetics, cost and habitat impacts.

The topsy-turvy world of Delaware energy politics has taken another turn as the staff of the Public Service Commission pronounced an offshore wind proposal is too expensive. The PSC staff said Bluewater Wind's proposal to pass along the costs of commodities, such as steel for the turbine towers, was potentially too expensive for electricity customers. ...But the solution to that problem is to put a cap on costs. If the costs go above the cap, let Bluewater Wind absorb costs or -- if it's wildly expensive -- end the project.

A process has been unfolding to find a new state energy source for more than a year. In a few months, the end of that process will mean that an offshore wind farm will have won the state government's approval or it didn't. ...The process, created by the General Assembly, is too far along to tinker with now. Let it continue without interference or the appearance of meddling.

When the Delaware Public Service Commission ordered Delmarva Power to obtain local power sources, that was supposed to be a means of providing price relief for electric consumers. At least that's what the Delaware Legislature had in mind when they passed the legislation. Somehow, eco-dreamers hijacked the price relief aspect of the plan, and the result is a pie-in-the-sky scheme to put a wind farm off the Delaware coast...........I have a really bad feeling about staking future energy availability on a proposal by a company to build an unreliable power source out in the ocean to transmit electricity to the mainland for distribution.