The paper's main finding is that atmospheric conditions around Cape Wind are predominantly turbulent, or unstable ...between 40 and 80 percent of the time. ...When the atmosphere is unstable, it is similar to turbulence experienced by airline passengers during a flight — the wind is choppy and causes high winds from above and slow winds from below to crash into each other and mix together, causing a bumpy and unpredictable ride for the air current.

Offshore Wind USA Massachusetts

This paper reports on research that looked at wind data collected offshore along the Northeast Unitied States. The paper's main finding is that atmospheric conditions around Cape Wind are predominantly turbulent, or unstable, which is very different from prevailing data from European offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Wind conditions at Cape Wind were shown to be unstable between 40 and 80 percent of the time, depending on season and time of day, The abstract of the paper is provided below. The full paper can be accessed from the links on this page.

Offshore Wind USA Massachusetts

Action on a long-awaited energy bill with broad implications for SouthCoast, where offshore wind power is widely viewed as a key future industry, could occur amid a flurry of 11th-hour lawmaking with about two weeks left for legislators on Beacon Hill.

Offshore Wind Energy Policy Massachusetts

Construction of the first off-shore wind farm in Massachusetts has a hit a snag with the D.C. Circuit chiding regulators about plans to protect shorebirds.

Impact on Birds Offshore Wind Massachusetts

Cape Wind’s long-running quest to establish a wind farm on the Nantucket Sound hit another hitch Tuesday as a three-judge federal Appeals Court panel reversed lower court decisions that had found regulators complied with environmental and endangered species laws in permitting the project.

Legal Offshore Wind Massachusetts

The major question now is whether the state Senate can develop its own version of the bill and whether the two versions can be reconciled by House-Senate negotiators before the legislative session ends at the end of July.

Offshore Wind Zoning/Planning Massachusetts

“In response to retiring power plants, thousands of megawatts of new local plants are under development today to preserve reliability and continue Massachusetts’ leadership in driving lower emissions,” NEPGA President Dan Dolan said in a statement. “Locking consumers into decades-long contracts would also freeze out innovation at a time when tremendous growth and promise is evident from more efficient power generation, lower renewable energy costs and burgeoning distributed electricity supplies.”

Offshore Wind Energy Policy Massachusetts

“Everything I continue to hear on Cape Wind is that they have been taken out of what’s happening right now,” Golden said. “There are a lot of questions coming out of the committee [about whether] that can be competitively bid today.”

Offshore Wind Energy Policy Massachusetts

Canadian hydropower and offshore wind projects would become more prominent pieces of the state's overall energy landscape under a long-awaited bill House lawmakers unveiled Monday. Members of a legislative committee that oversees energy issues were expected to endorse the bill, in a vote taken by email, setting the stage for debate in the full House next month. Renewable energy advocates have said the bill does not go far enough.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

The energy bill may be introduced as early as this month and is expected to require utilities to purchase power from offshore wind farms, according to Rep. Thomas Golden, one of the Democrats who control the state legislature. Still to be determined is how much power utilities would be forced to buy under the bill and, crucially, whether the state’s Republican governor -- who has already opposed one offshore project -- will sign it.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

A state board on Tuesday issued a tentative decision denying the extension of permits that would allow Cape Wind to build an electricity transmission line to connect its proposed offshore wind farm to land, further complicating the beleaguered project's already grim prospects.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

A Massachusetts state board has issued a draft decision denying the extension of permits that would enable Cape Wind to build an electricity transmission line to connect its proposed offshore wind farm to land. The draft decision offers an informative discussion of the now historical events leading to the denial. The full decision can be accessed by clicking the link on this page. 

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

A representative from Denmark’s largest energy company had a cold reception in Chilmark this week as commercial fishermen and others discussed a proposed wind farm south of the Vineyard. Andy Revill, a fishermen’s liaison for Dong Energy, traveled from the U.K. to meet with fishermen. ...But fishermen who gathered at the Chimark town hall on Tuesday said that would almost surely interfere with gillnetters in the area.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

The long-stalled offshore wind project planned for the coastal waters off Massachusetts could face even more legal roadblocks. Federal appeals court judges today signaled skepticism about whether the government had properly determined how to minimize the project's impact on migratory birds.

Impact on Birds Offshore Wind USA Massachusetts

Few share Gordon’s optimism, although no one is willing to say so on the record. His critics say Cape Wind is out of date and out of sync with the times, and faces an uphill battle in the courts and on Beacon Hill. William Koch, the billionaire Osterville homeowner who has funded countless court challenges to the project over the years, is not going away. And Gordon’s patron saint, Deval Patrick, is gone from the governor’s office, replaced by Charlie Baker, who has never been a fan of Cape Wind.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

Six months ago, few New Englanders had heard of DONG Energy. But that is likely to change soon as the Danish company with a quirky acronym for a name pursues its plans to build a massive offshore wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

Offshore wind industry leaders, environmental advocates and several state legislators gathered Thursday in a Statehouse hearing room to make their case for the inclusion of offshore wind in state energy legislation.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

A major European energy company is proposing what could be North America’s largest offshore wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, outlining its plans less than a year after the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound suffered a stunning financial setback.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

The president of Cape Wind developer Energy Management Inc. has not given up on the controversial wind farm project in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind suffered what many saw as a death blow in January when Gordon and his team missed a crucial financing deadline and lost major contracts from utilities Eversource Energy and National Grid as a result, making it nearly impossible to attract the investment needed to start construction

Offshore Wind Massachusetts

FRAMINGHAM – While prospects are growing dim for the Cape Wind project to take shape in Nantucket Sound, advocates for offshore wind say the technology still has untold potential to create new jobs and satisfy the region’s energy needs.

Offshore Wind Massachusetts