Cape Wind Project Approved, a Mere 10 Years Later

A project that's been a symbol of NIMBYism and opposition to offshore wind power, the Cape Wind Project, is finally moving ahead, after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved its plan yesterday.

While it's good news for wind advocates, it's worth noting that many green power projects like solar plants in the Mojave desert and wind farms across the Midwest have encountered similar opposition. When you do something that impacts large amounts of land, many people have an interest in stopping or shaping the project. What we need is some way of evaluating the benefits of low-carbon power with the downsides of land-use impacts, but it's hard to even imagine what such a methodology would look like.

The U.S government on Tuesday approved a plan to build the country's first offshore wind farm, in a picturesque bay near Cape Cod, a popular Massachusetts holiday destination. Installation of 130, 3.6-megawatt wind turbine generators that will stand 440 feet high (134 meters) could begin in Nantucket Sound by the autumn, the Department of the Interior said in a statement announcing that the Cape Wind Project was finally going ahead, 10 years after it was first put forward.

Read the full story at Discovery News.