Author Archives: D. Posnett MD

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About D. Posnett MD

Emeritus Prof. of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College

The First Turbine of the South Fork Wind Farm is Spinning!

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Yesterday, Dec. 7th 2023, we visited the newly operational first turbine of the South Fork Wind Farm. It is also a first for New York State. It was an amazing event covered by news reporters from Reuters, CBS, NY Times, Newsday, East Hampton Star and more, with State officials from Albany, and local political figures from East Hampton and Long Island, also including NYSERDA, LIPA, PSEG, etc.,.  Jen Garvey of Orsted ran the show, competent as always.

The star of the event was the first operational turbine which is already transmitting electricity to East Hampton!  As Judith Hope puts it:

We celebrated “First Power” today when the first wind turbine, 35 files off the Montauk coast, was turned on and began transmitting electricity to the Cove Hollow substation!  Eleven more turbines are on the way and together they will provide electric power to 70,000 South Fork homes. It was so satisfying to come home tonight and to hit the light switch knowing that it is even partially fueled by our own offshore wind. Very soon, the South Fork Wind Farm will be entirely powering our homes. Happy Holidays!
Judith 

There follows a ‘slide show’ from our visit to the wind farm aboard our vessel, the “Julia Leigh.”  Missing is a picture of an uninvited guest spouting off: a whale just about 100 yards from our ship, swimming among the wind turbines and construction vessels, and joining the party, in celebration it seems!

To understand the construction site for the wind farm, I found this quite useful:

HOW TO BUILD AN OFFSHORE WIND FARM

(1) The first operational wind turbine:

(2) Concrete foundation for a future turbine.  Penetrates the sea bed floor about 60 feet:

(3) A “lift boat”.  A platform from which the turbine and blades are mounted onto the foundation. The 3 blades are visible on the platform waiting to be mounted next.   

(4) The “switch station”: this is where the electricity from the turbines is transformed to a higher voltage and then loaded on to the cable which runs along the sea bed and eventually makes landfall in Wainscott.  Also shown is a transport vessel for construction material from the mainland supply port. It can house 40 construction workers who spend 2-week shifts working on the wind farm.

(5) The crowd watching from our boat!

(6) The wind farm construction site from a distance:

First South Fork Wind Turbine Ready for Offshore Installation

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October 31, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

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New York is days away from having its first offshore wind turbine. The first wind turbine components for the South Fork offshore wind farm have been loaded onto a barge and the installation vessel Aeolus is already in the project site area.

The South Fork team has loaded out the components for the first wind turbine – the tower sections, blades and the nacelle – onto a barge at the State Pier Terminal in New London, Connecticut.

All monopile foundations and the project’s offshore substation were installed this summer, and the wind turbine components started arriving in New London around the same time.

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According to a recent post by South Fork Wind, a project company owned by Ørsted, Van Oord’s installation vessel Aeolus arrived in the US last week and stopped in Rhode Island for inspection before heading to the offshore wind farm site.

The vessel’s AIS currently shows Aeolus in the project site area. The 132 MW South Fork offshore wind farm is located some 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and around 56 kilometres (35 miles) east of Montauk Point, New York.  The project, the first offshore wind farm in New York, will comprise twelve Siemens Gamesa 11 MW wind turbines and is expected to produce its first electricity by the end of this year.

Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, 225A Main Street , Farmingdale, NY 11735

Official announcement:

South Fork Wind Set for Installation of First Wind Turbine Offshore | South Fork Wind

Komanoff: Don’t fear the future, embrace the wind farm

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Reprinted with permission. From Long Island Business News

Komanoff: Don’t fear the future, embrace the wind farm

Charles Komanoff //September 14, 2023

Ninety years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt told a nation locked into the miseries of the Great Depression, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

FDR’s reassuring words and resolute tone rallied Americans and set a pattern of optimism that helped carry the United States to economic recovery and, later, victory in a world war.

Today’s calamity, global climate change, should have special resonance for Long Island. Our trademark sea-splashed geography and low-lying beach topography place Nassau and Suffolk in the path of rising sea levels. Just as Americans rebuilt our economic system and prevailed in World War II, confronting the climate crisis means all hands on deck.

It also requires taking a page from FDR and conquering our fears. Unfounded, baseless fears. Unfortunately, a pair of local legislators are doing the opposite as they work to scuttle the proposed Equinor wind farm off my hometown of Long Beach on Nassau County’s south shore.

Delusional thinking reaches a whole new level when officials representing fossil fuel-dependent, storm-vulnerable and barely-above-sea-level communities seek to block Long Island’s and New York State’s first significant offshore wind power array.

Climate change is here and for some, literally at our doorsteps. Wind farms have been proven to be safe and an effective part of the solution.

So why are State Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick of Malverne and Assemblymember Ari Brown from the Five Towns mobilizing against the project? Why did they recently circulate tens of thousands of flyers telling voters that the 150 offshore wind turbines threaten their way of life, when in reality the power they will produce is key to preserving it?

Equinor’s wind turbines will reduce Long Island families’ carbon footprint, protect marine life, and create enduring, high-paying jobs for their communities.

Denmark and northern Germany have been reaping those benefits for nearly two decades, followed by Scotland and soon, Ireland. Although the United States has been slow to develop offshore wind, our land-based wind turbines last year produced a stunning 435 billion kilowatt-hours — one-tenth of all electricity generated in the 50 states.

Every kilowatt-hour of that energy was spun from free air and didn’t have to be made by burning oil or coal or fracked methane gas. Commercial wind power is a huge U.S. climate success story, reducing our carbon emissions and helping ensure that our electric cars and electric heat are climate-friendly.

What do Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Brown have to say to that? Nothing. Rather than deal in facts, their mailer trades in fear and misstatements.

The dangers it alleges are not based on facts, science, or experience. “Electromagnetic cables … Harmful to marine life … Reduced property values … Potential high cost of environmental damage.” It would appear to be the work of a cynical, well-oiled propaganda campaign whose agenda has little to do with the protection of our environment or the ability to confront climate change. Rather, this campaign seems to bind itself to political rhetoric and the bottom-line concerns of special interests who hope to delay or deny the arrival of competitive renewable energy.

The climate crisis confronts our beautiful island with a circumscribed future. Solving the crisis requires that every country, state, city, and region play a part. Long Island’s biggest climate asset by far is our offshore wind resources. Turning our backs on Equinor’s wind turbines and, yes, other wind farms to follow, isn’t climate Russian roulette. It’s climate suicide.

Charles Komanoff, a native of Long Beach, is a consulting economist based in New York City.

Whale Tales and Whale Facts

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Posted by D. Posnett MD On Apr 5, 2023, at noon, CCE (Citizens Campaign for the Environment) put together a great webinar to address increases in whale strandings and whale deaths off the Atlantic sea shore and in particular the New York blight.

Adrienne Esposito led the discussion. She reminds us that whales are under threat from several sources, including ship strikes, fishing gear, plastic pollution, and climate change. Unfortunately, misinformation has targeted offshore wind development. Local wind projects are crucial to combat climate change, which in itself threatens whales, other marine mammals, fisheries, and our local communities.

Check out this virtual educational forum to hear from experts at the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, and Atlantic Marine Conservation Society. Learn more about the recent whale strandings and deaths, and what is being done to protect whales. Hosted by CCE, NY League of Conservation Voters, and the NY Offshore Wind Alliance.

For a complete review of the webinar, watch it on YouTube (1 hour):

Here are some points that struck me:

  • There is a real increase in whale deaths since 2016 (about 4-5 fold over baseline). It is over a large area of the Atlantic coastline. It involves all whale species. Leading causes are vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
  • With the return of menhaden fish schools (food for whales), whale sightings have also increased.
  • The nascent offshore wind farms have nothing to do with this real and important problem

The following are a few highlights from the webinar. Courtesy of the speakers:

Julie Tighe (New York League of Conservation voters). Meghan Rickard, NY State Dep of Environmental Conservation. Erika Staaterman, BOEM. Robert A. DiGiovanni, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society. Adrienne Esposito, Citizens campaign

  1. Large whale (with white fins) feeding on Menhaden school.
  • Increased whale strandings near NY Bight
  • Location of whale strandings
  • Entangled Humpback Whale
  • Feeding on Menhaden

How offshore wind won over (most of) the Hamptons

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How offshore wind won over (most of) the Hamptons

Beach construction near the sun-blanched mansions of the Hamptons represents a turning point for offshore wind in America. The industry struggled for years to gain a toehold in the United States. Now it is on the precipice of becoming a reality.
Avatar of Benjamin Storrow
BY: 
BENJAMIN STORROW
 | 12/05/2022 06:42 AM EST
Jackup vessel.

A view of the jackup vessel Jill as seen from the beach in Wainscott, N.Y. The vessel is assisting with construction of the South Fork wind farm, a 12-turbine project off Long Island.Benjamin Storrow/E&E News

CLIMATEWIRE | WAINSCOTT, N.Y. — Bill Fielder usually has the beach to himself in December.He arrives in the mornings, letting his dogs burst from the car onto the empty sand. He takes a seat on a wooden bench and puffs a cigar as he watches them romp. Sometimes another dog walker will pass by. Maybe a truck, fishing pole strapped to the roof, rumbles onto the beach. But that’s usually it.

Except this year.A 177-foot liftboat recently anchored a short distance offshore, its three towering legs looming over the dunes, as well as the neatly lined hedgerows and sun-blanched mansions of the Hamptons.On the narrow road leading to the beach, a drilling crew is working in front of a mansion owned by Ron Lauder, the billionaire CEO of the cosmetics company Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. They are digging a tunnel 80 feet below the sand, which will be used to string a transmission cable linking New York’s first offshore wind farm to the state’s power grid.The project has roiled this well-heeled hamlet, attracting opposition from the likes of Lauder and the area’s other rich beachgoers. But unlike on Cape Cod, where wealthy residents helped sink America’s first proposed offshore wind farm five years ago, this 12-turbine project is moving ahead with construction. Its Danish developer expects it will begin generating electricity late next year, providing enough power for 70,000 Long Island households.Fielder, a 69-year-old Massachusetts transplant to the Hamptons, is thrilled by the sight. He jabs the air with his cigar as he talks, describing the arrival of the liftboat several weeks ago and how its deck has been outfitted with a pair of cranes. And he is quick to dismiss the opposition. When work is done in several months, there will be no visible signs of the transmission line, which will be buried beneath the road. Most year-round residents, he reckons, are supportive of the project.“It has to happen somewhere. It has to happen in someone’s backyard,” says Fielder, who lives in the nearby village of East Hampton. “It’s for my kids more. The climate change up to now is nothing compared to what it’s going to be.”The beach construction here in the Hamptons represents a turning point for offshore wind in America. The industry struggled for years to gain a toehold in the United States due to soaring installation costs and not-in-my-backyard opposition. Now it is on the precipice of becoming a reality.Developers hold leases for nine projects in the shallow waters between Martha’s Vineyard and Long Island. Two are already under construction. Cable installation recently began for Vineyard Wind 1, a 62-turbine project serving Massachusetts. The 800-megawatt development is expected to begin generating electricity in 2024.The New York project is relatively small by comparison. The South Fork wind farm, which will be built 35 miles east of Montauk, has a listed capacity of 132 MW. But it represents proof of concept for Northeastern states such as New York, which have designed their climate plans around the presumption they will be able to generate vast amounts of carbon-free electricity from turbines in the ocean.

“It helped pave the way and kind of really flush out what the issues are for us here in New York,” says Peter Van Scoyoc, town supervisor in East Hampton, the community encompassing Wainscott. “Now, obviously, things are getting scaled up.”President Joe Biden has set a goal of installing 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030. New York alone has a target of building 9,000 MW by 2035.The industry figures to have a large presence on Long Island.Ørsted A/S, the Danish wind developer behind South Fork, is planning two larger developments with Eversource Energy in the waters between Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard. Those projects will be served by a control room in Port Jefferson, on the north side of the island. Montauk, at the eastern tip of Long Island, will be home to a small operations and maintenance hub. And the transmission cable for Sunrise Wind, a 924-MW project to be built near South Fork, will come ashore further west in the community of Brookhaven.The challenges facing projects such as Sunrise Wind are different. Ørsted officials said they have yet to experience the kind of local opposition they encountered with South Fork’s transmission line. Instead, they face the obstacle of building a bigger project at a time when supply chain bottlenecks and inflation are roiling global markets.“Trade prices are going up, material prices for copper and steel are going up,” says Troy Patton, Ørsted chief operating officer for North America. “We’re impacted. Commodity cost pressure, there’s been supply chain disconnects that are happening all over the place because we’re getting parts from all over the world. And they’re seeing some knock-on effects. And sometimes it’s simple little things like switches and wires that you need to order that you can’t get. So we’re having conversations with the states about the pressures that we’re facing.”South Fork, then, is something of a test case for how to build offshore wind in the United States. The country has installed a total of seven turbines to date at two installations off Rhode Island and Virginia.The project here dates to efforts by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to secure new power generation to satisfy growing electricity demand in the southeast corner of the island. In 2017, LIPA selected South Fork from 21 projects to meet that demand.The project faced headwinds at first. Only two of the five members of East Hampton’s town board initially supported routing a transmission cable from the wind farm through the community, leaving supporters such as Van Scoyoc in the minority.Yet opposition faded as the community learned more about the project, Van Scoyoc said.Concerns over temporary construction needed to site the transmission line paled next to other challenges. In 2014, East Hampton set a goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2020 — a target it missed. A coastal assessment undertaken by the town showed much of East Hampton was at risk due to sea-level rise. And the community had a visible pollution problem stemming from its power needs. In the summertime, when the Hamptons’ population swells, it turns to a series of small oil generators to crank out power, sending plumes of dirty smoke into the air.Shifting local attitudes toward the idea of running the transmission line for South Fork through the community are evident in the town’s politics. In 2019, Van Scoyoc a Democrat, won reelection in a race where South Fork loomed large. The town board subsequently approved a key permit for the transmission line in a 4-1 vote last year. By the time Van Scoyoc faced reelection again late last year, South Fork was barely an issue.“I think it was a matter of just socializing the idea and, you know, weighing benefits versus detriments,” Van Scoyoc says. “Not doing this was going to be more harmful over time.”

Orsted A/S employees Troy Patton and Jennifer Garvey.
Ørsted A/S employees Troy Patton and Jennifer Garvey posing for a photo in Wainscott last week. Ørsted began construction on its South Fork wind farm last year and expects the project to come online in late 2023. | Benjamin Storrow/E&E News

It has fallen to Ørsted employees like Jennifer Garvey to build support for the project.She reflected on that job as she and Patton offered a tour of the work in Wainscott last week. It was afternoon, and dog walkers like Fielder had long since gone. A mechanical hum from the horizontal drill on the beach road cut through the sound of crashing surf.The drill will dig a 2,500-foot-long tunnel under the beach out in the direction of the liftboat. The vessel has set its three legs down on the ocean floor about a third of a mile offshore, lifting its hull some 20 or 30 feet above the waves and offering workers a stable platform to work on. The tunnel should be done around the first of the year. Then, if all goes to plan, the transmission line will be laid and turbines installed.“This project, we talked about it for so long,” Garvey says. “It’s really satisfying to see the milestones and then to see actual physical progress. You know, just to see vessels show up, to see the work on shore and to see it going well.”

Fishermen Working with Offshore Wind

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Local Fishermen Performing Scout Boat Services For Offshore Wind Cable Routes
Offshore Wind is proving to be a Godsend to fishermen who have been struggling because of climate change, fishing regulations, permit consolidation and the COVID disaster of 2020. Thanks to Offshore Wind, many fishermen are getting a second chance at remaining on the water and maintain their identity as mariners. Equinor Wind recognizes the importance …Local Fishermen Performing Scout Boat Services For Offshore Wind Cable Routes Read More »The post Local Fishermen Performing Scout Boat Services For Offshore Wind Cable Routes appeared first on Offshorewfs.
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Fishermen Perform Very Valuable Service to Offshore Wind Developer
NEW BEDFORD, MA – June 25, 2021 – Offshore Wind Farm Support is proud to announce the placement of seasoned, experienced and knowledgeable fisherman known as “Certified Fisheries Liaison Officer” onboard the Survey Vessel Fugro Explorer for Vineyard Wind.  The FUGRO EXPLORER will be performing Geo-SubSea Survey operations in the southern/central portion of Vineyard Wind …Fishermen Perform Very Valuable Service to Offshore Wind Developer Read More »The post Fishermen Perform Very Valuable Service to Offshore Wind Developer appeared first on Offshorewfs.
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Fishermen Perform Valuable Service to Offshore Wind DeveloperNEW BEDFORD, MA – June 25, 2021 – Offshore Wind Farm Support is proud to announce the placement of seasoned, experienced and knowledgeable fisherman known as “Certified Fisheries Liaison Officer” onboard a Survey Vessel for Vineyard Wind.  The survey vessel MINERVA UNO will be performing Geo-SubSea Survey operations in the southern/central portion of Vineyard Wind …Fishermen Perform Valuable Service to Offshore Wind Developer Read More »The post Fishermen Perform Valuable Service to Offshore Wind Developer appeared first on Offshorewfs.
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Closer to HOME there is another similar story originally published 5/12/21 in the Providence Journal: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/opinion/columns/2021/05/12/opinion-yerman-fishermen-need-partner-offshore-wind-developers/4926023001/:

Opinion/Yerman: Fishermen need to partner with offshore wind developers

Gary Yerman is fleet manager and co-founder of Sea Services North America, in Waterford, Conn.

After fishing for 45 years, I’ve learned three things: 1) There’s no substitute for hard work; 2) Provide for the ocean because she provides for you; and 3) How to tell a good fishing story. 

I want to share the latest chapter in the story of my life at sea. A couple of years ago, representatives from different offshore wind developers were making visits to commercial fishermen up and down the East Coast. New London Seafood Distributors was no different and I was visited regularly with stories I didn’t believe and promises that felt insincere. Eventually, I sat down with Michael Theiler and Gordon Videll to talk about how to best co-exist with the inevitability of offshore wind in a time the government regulation has compromised commercial fishing viability.

We all want to know the lights will go on when we flip the switch. I learned that offshore wind is helping keep those lights on around the world and commercial fishermen are part of it. The sea has been good to me and like most fisherman, the knee jerk reaction was to fight to protect what we know and even if development is inevitable, we would get a bigger check for disruption the more we fought. 

Instead, with encouragement from Orsted’s Matt Morrisey, Gordon, Mike and I packed our bags and headed for Kilkeel in Northern Ireland. There we met a group of fishermen that just 10 years earlier were devastated by fishing regulations and quotas caused by the European Union. The town and port were frighteningly similar to New London with an underused port and vacant storefronts. In those 10 years, the port was rebuilt, and the storefronts were filled with thriving retail, restaurants and office space. By supplementing offshore wind work with fishing, the once struggling town had the boost it needed to right itself. The similarities were undeniable, and I knew we could do the same.

We knew the key to enduring commercial success would be to partner with an experienced developer and use top shelf software to implement the best safety policies using the native knowledge of our local fishermen; fishermen who had a true vision for what this opportunity holds for us. 

Orsted leaned in to meet us just as we leaned in to meet them. They knew the industry standard for fishing vessels wouldn’t meet their heightened safety requirements, but they gave us a chance. With their help and expertise, we met the requirements and exceeded expectations by providing a scout vessel for their last survey without incident. 9,000 square kilometers without as much as an entanglement with fishing gear. 

The perfect storm of experience, technology and teamwork proved that there is a place for us. This is not a token contract for optics, but instead a substantive partnership that increases fishing vessel safety, keeps money local and adds great value to the offshore wind developer’s missions. We are looking forward to continuing our commercial relationship as the construction phase begins. Orsted’s commitment to using local fishermen through Sea Services North America cannot be understated. From working through the regulatory issues, upgrading and inspecting boats and providing training, Orsted is a true partner.

Offshore wind, and Orsted in particular, has allowed us to build a business that will provide work for scores of fishermen. The economic impact that will stay the community is enormous. We aren’t special, but what we are building is very special and it will support many struggling fishermen. We have the chance to build on the momentum Orsted’s commitment to the region has created. I hope that others seize this opportunity and storefront vacancies in my hometown are soon filled. Responsible participation in this new industry is a way for us all to provide for the ocean so that she can continue to provide for us.

Right whale #3720

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Right Whale #3720 with her calf

On March 18th Chris Paparo, the manager of Stony Brook University’s Marine Sciences Center reported a sighting of a mother right whale with her calf just 300 yards off an East Hampton ocean beach!  #3720, as she is called, had travelled from waters near Wassaw Island, Georgia, where she and her calf were last seen on Jan. 19th 2021, their final destination perhaps Cape Cod bay, or as far north as the gulf of St. Lawrence.

We all know that the right whale is a critically endangered species with less than 400 individuals still alive and perhaps less than 100 reproducing females.  Spotting calves with their mothers represents a glimmer of hope.

With plans to build an offshore South Fork Wind Farm 35 miles east of Montauk point and run a submarine cable coming ashore on a Wainscott beach, I could not help wonder how the developer (Ørsted) plans to safeguard these magnificent marine mammals.

Here is my lay person report.

  • Ørsted takes this very seriously.  I spoke with Sophie Hartfield Lewis, Ørsted Head of U.S. Permitting. Safeguarding whales are clearly dear to her heart. Together with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution they are tackling issues like the correct distance between a source of submarine noise, such as pile driving, and a whale straying into the area. At what distance is there assured harm to the whale’s hearing (permanent or temporary)? At what distance do all drilling operations need to be halted? Currently that stands at 1 km depending on what marine species is involved and the type of noise emitted, including the noise frequency.  F.ex. frequencies above 200 mHz are deemed safe because whales don’t hear them or because they don’t have adverse reactions to them.
  • I also learned about techniques used to dampen noise.  (a) There is something called a ‘Big bubble curtain’ (BBC): it consists of a flexible tube fitted with special nozzle openings and installed on the seabed around the pile. Compressed air is forced through the nozzles producing a curtain of rising, expanding bubbles. These bubbles effectively attenuate noise by scattering sound on the air bubbles, absorbing sound, or reflecting sound off the air bubbles! (b) There is the Hydro-Sound Damper (HSD): it consists of a fisher net with different sized elements, laid out at various distances from each other, and encapsulating the pile. HSD elements can be foam plastic or gas-filled balloons. Noise is reduced as it crosses the HSD due to reflection and absorption. (c) There is the AdBm, Helmholz resonator: it consists of large arrays of Helmholtz resonators, or air filled containers with an opening on one side that can be set to vibrate at specific frequencies to absorb noise, deployed as a “fence” around pile driving activities.  Sophie told me that if operations were to start tomorrow, they would use BBC.
  • I spoke with Catherine Bowes of the National Wildlife  Foundation.  Key recommendations include: seasonal & temporal restrictions on pile driving; real-time monitoring of science-based exclusion zones; underwater noise limits; vessel speed restrictions; and commitments to pre, during & post-construction monitoring to ensure we learn as we go, in launching this new clean energy industry. This last point is essential for informing impact mitigation strategies along the coast. 

Sophie Hartfield Lewis directed me to an online pdf. Pages 100-166 directly concern mitigation strategies for the SFWF. It is titled “Protected Species Mitigation and Monitoring Plan South Fork Wind, LLC.“  I warn the reader: it gets pretty involved.

The world has seen an increasing and alarming number of extinctions in recent years. And that’s only the ones we know about. Ultimately, protecting threatened species protects us, the human species, because loss of biodiversity has health impacts among many other ill effects. Just google ’loss of biodiversity.’   Simultaneously, we are existentially threatened by climate change.  Thus, we have no choice. We need to save species like the right whale and we need offshore wind energy.

Win With Wind held a virtual seminar on

Offshore Wind Farms & Protection of Endangered Species

Q&A with 2 renowned experts:

Catherine Bowes,  Program Director, National Wildlife Federation

Sophie Hartfield Lewis, Head of Environment & Marine Affairs, Ørsted

Wednesday Jun 9, 2021, 4:00 – 5:30  PM

The seminar can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube:

Vertical turbines could be the future for wind farms

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Oxford Brookes University. “Vertical turbines could be the future for wind farms.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 April 2021. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210427085752.htm

Summary: The now-familiar sight of traditional propeller wind turbines could be replaced in the future with wind farms containing more compact and efficient vertical turbines. New research has found that the vertical turbine design is far more efficient than traditional turbines in large scale wind farms, and when set in pairs the vertical turbines increase each other’s performance by up to 15%.

The now-familiar sight of traditional propeller wind turbines could be replaced in the future with wind farms containing more compact and efficient vertical turbines. New research from Oxford Brookes University has found that the vertical turbine design is far more efficient than traditional turbines in large scale wind farms, and when set in pairs the vertical turbines increase each other’s performance by up to 15%.

A research team from the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (ECM) at Oxford Brookes led by Professor Iakovos Tzanakis conducted an in-depth study using more than 11,500 hours of computer simulation to show that wind farms can perform more efficiently by substituting the traditional propeller type Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs), for compact Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs).

Vertical turbines are more efficient than traditional windmill turbines

The research demonstrates for the first time at a realistic scale, the potential of large scale VAWTs to outcompete current HAWT wind farm turbines.

VAWTs spin around an axis vertical to the ground, and they exhibit the opposite behaviour of the well-known propeller design (HAWTs). The research found that VAWTs increase each other’s performance when arranged in grid formations. Positioning wind turbines to maximise outputs is critical to the design of wind farms.

Professor Tzanakis comments “This study evidences that the future of wind farms should be vertical. Vertical axis wind farm turbines can be designed to be much closer together, increasing their efficiency and ultimately lowering the prices of electricity. In the long run, VAWTs can help accelerate the green transition of our energy systems, so that more clean and sustainable energy comes from renewable sources.”

With the UK’s wind energy capacity expected to almost double by 2030, the findings are a stepping stone towards designing more efficient wind farms, understanding large scale wind energy harvesting techniques and ultimately improving the renewable energy technology to more quickly replace fossil fuels as sources of energy.

Cost effective way to meet wind power targets

According to the Global Wind Report 2021, the world needs to be installing wind power three times faster over the next decade, in order to meet net zero targets and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Lead author of the report and Bachelor of Engineering graduate Joachim Toftegaard Hansen commented: “Modern wind farms are one of the most efficient ways to generate green energy, however, they have one major flaw: as the wind approaches the front row of turbines, turbulence will be generated downstream. The turbulence is detrimental to the performance of the subsequent rows.

“In other words, the front row will convert about half the kinetic energy of the wind into electricity, whereas for the back row, that number is down to 25-30%. Each turbine costs more than £2 million/MW. As an engineer, it naturally occurred to me that there must be a more cost-effective way.”

The study is the first to comprehensively analyse many aspects of wind turbine performance, with regards to array angle, direction of rotation, turbine spacing, and number of rotors. It is also the first research to investigate whether the performance improvements hold true for three VAWT turbines set in a series.

Dr Mahak co-author of the article and Senior Lecturer in ECM comments: “The importance of using computational methods in understanding flow physics can’t be underestimated. These types of design and enhancement studies are a fraction of the cost compared to the huge experimental test facilities. This is particularly important at the initial design phase and is extremely useful for the industries trying to achieve maximum design efficiency and power output.” make a difference: sponsored opportunity

Story Source:

Materials provided by Oxford Brookes University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. Joachim Toftegaard Hansen, Mahak Mahak, Iakovos Tzanakis. Numerical modelling and optimization of vertical axis wind turbine pairs: A scale up approach. Renewable Energy, 2021; 171: 1371 DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.001

Ørsted and Eversource Announce $5M Commitment to Stony Brook University to Support Offshore Wind Research Initiatives

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04.26.2021 10:00 Stony Brook University and Ørsted/Eversource signed a MOU to further New York State’s and Sunrise Wind’s leadership in the offshore wind industry

Stony Brook, N.Y. – April 26, 2021 – Joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource, developers of New York offshore wind farm, Sunrise Wind, announced today the launch of a research partnership with Stony Brook University. The $5 million commitment funded by the project will underwrite research initiatives specific to the advancement of offshore wind through Stony Brook’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) in connection with the Sunrise Wind project.

The AERTC, a New York State Center of Excellence in Energy, is a true partnership of academic institutions, research institutions, energy providers and industrial corporations. The Center’s mission is to promote innovative energy research, education, and technology deployment with a focus on efficiency, conservation, renewable energy and nanotechnology applications for new sources of energy.

The funds will support multiple research projects to improve and advance offshore wind energy development and grid integration. The AERTC would focus on interdisciplinary research activities related to:

  • Engineering, construction, and logistics for offshore wind power generation;
  • Technological innovations to reduce costs and improve efficiencies of offshore wind;
  • Wind resource assessment and energy production forecasting;
  • Integrating intermittent renewable energy sources with utility grids; and
  • Coordinating the development of offshore wind resources with other commercial offshore uses, particularly the fishing industry.

“We are very excited by the possibilities this partnership with Ørsted and Eversource presents,” said Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis. “Since opening AERTC in 2010, Stony Brook has been effectively advancing renewable energy research and training students who will become the next generation of energy experts. With this research partnership and collaboration, we are poised to make a real impact on the future production and efficiency of offshore wind energy.”

“The offshore wind industry and the prospect of a clean energy future are two of the most exciting developments happening right now in the United States,” said David Hardy, Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted Offshore North America.“Stony Brook University has long been positioning itself to be an academic and research epicenter of this green movement. The goal of this partnership is to leverage the academic power of this world-class research institution and apply it to our projects.”

“We’re fortunate to partner with such an esteemed institution as Stony Brook University to conduct important research for our offshore wind projects,” said

Werner Schweiger, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Eversource Energy.“The researchers at Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook have demonstrated great leadership in advancing new renewable energy technology and we look forward to collaborating with them to bring offshore wind to the state of New York.”

“We are delighted that the AERTC at Stony Brook is recognized by Ørsted and Eversource to be a leader in advancing New York State’s Clean energy goals,” said Robert Catell, Chairman of the AERTC Advisory Board at Stony Brook University. “As the New York State Center of Excellence in Energy, it is the ideal location to conduct research to advance offshore wind technology and support economic development and workforce training. Today’s commitment recognizes the AERTC’s proven expertise in offshore wind research and development, demonstrated particularly through its leadership in helping to launch the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium.”

“Stony Brook University is at the frontier of conducting research that will dramatically reduce the cost of offshore wind energy and help integrate the electricity produced by offshore wind farms into our power grid,” said Richard Reeder, Ph.D., Vice President for Research at Stony Brook University. “Partnerships with industry leaders like Ørsted and Eversource are critical for translating our cutting-edge research into practical solutions that will augment our capacity for innovation and train the workforce of the future, while helping New York State meet its bold clean energy goals.”

“The research and development activities to be conducted by Orsted/Eversource and Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy and Research Technology Center will ultimately help drive down the costs of offshore wind and provide further insight into integrating this renewable resource onto the electric grid,” said Doreen Harris, President and CEO, NYSERDA. “These partnerships are absolutely critical to ensuring offshore wind is being developed with a focus on the most innovative and efficient technologies available to quickly get it to scale and support the mounting demand for clean energy not only in New York but across the nation.”

“Suffolk County is fully committed to undertaking the research and development necessary to transform an aging infrastructure into a clean energy economy that will serve as a national model,” said Steve Bellone, Suffolk County Executive. “The synergy between Stony Brook University and Ørsted and Eversource is essential to moving our region forward and expediting the critical progression to provide us with a safe and reliable future.”

“Long Island is home to one of the best renewable energy research institutions in our nation in Stony Brook University, and its work is key to New York’s leadership in the green economy,” said State Senator Todd Kaminsky, Chair of the New York State Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. “This partnership between the University, Ørsted and Eversource is integral to propelling us into a future powered by clean energy, while bringing offshore wind and good jobs to our Island.”

“By following through on earlier promises to provide such funding the Ørsted corporation is proving to be both a good corporate citizen and a reliable partner in the necessary quest to replace Long Island’s fossil fuel energy sources with clean, renewable wind power,” said New York State Assemblyman, Steve Englebright. “Supporting Stony Brook’s research and education mission by committing to $5 million in grants for the marine, atmospheric, and environmental engineering sciences is a wise investment into a better tomorrow for all of us.”