Offshore wind farms should be linked, researchers say

Summaries - Australian Financial Review
Tuesday 13/4/2010 Page: 5

American academics have put forward a plan to link new wind farms on the United States' East Coast, as electricity authorities grapple with the issue of obtaining useful power from wind energy. University of Delaware researchers suggest making wind energy more viable by linking the wind farms. A professor at the university's College of Earth, Ocean and the Environment in Newark, Delaware, Willet Kempton, says linking wind farms would reduce power fluctuations when the wind stops in one area.

The World Wind Energy Association says the US had the most MWs of wind power capacity in 2009 at 35,139, while the US has no offshore wind farms. To reach an Energy Department target of obtaining 20% of US power from wind by 2003, the US will need about 300 GWs, with 54 GWs from offshore turbines, according to the American Wind Energy Association.