Now, a few short years ago, for me or anyone to say that offshore wind farms are coming to the Outer Banks would have been unfathomable (pardon the pun.) After all, there’s a ‘chicken little,’ a Luddite, someone opposed to new technology in every crowd: “Oh, wind farms are ugly. They kill birds. The utilities won’t connect wind farms to their power grids. Yada yada yada.” To be sure, wind farms undoubtedly alter the landscape, especially with turbines reaching lengths up to 800 feet and blades exceeding 250 feet. In good weather, these gray structures are certainly visible. But, and it is a very big but, other methods of power generation significantly alter the landscape, too. Coal mines swallow up entire villages and destroy forests. Ever fly at low altitude over West Virginia? High-voltage transmission lines crisscross landscapes, and smoke and steam from towering power plant chimneys and cooling stacks can spread miles into the sky obscuring the sun! Birds face a host of threats — habitat loss, predation by outdoor cats, collisions with windows, pesticide poisoning … the list goes on. Cumulatively, the losses are huge: there are 2.9 billion fewer birds in the U.S. and Canada than in 1970 — a nearly 30-percent decline of the total population. Then there's climate change. Now, we can’t very easily protect birds from predatory cats, windows or pesticides. But, with wind farms, we can begin to protect birds from the impacts of climate change. And, while utility companies resisted purchasing electricity generated by wind farms early on, these power giants are now leaders in harnessing the wind. After all, it's not like Duke Energy needs a reminder that it is in the energy business. It’s in its name!
It’s one thing to disabuse common citizens and corporations of the idea that wind farms are bad for the view, bad for the birds and bad for the utilities. It’s quite another to disabuse politicians. But, that is what has happened in North Carolina. Indeed, North Carolina is betting big on on- and off- shore wind farms to help meet its aggressive goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030, a deadline only seven years down the road. North Carolina, the first state to bring a wind farm online in the south, wants wind farms to generate enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes by 2030. By 2050, the state wants wind farms to generate 8 GW, enough energy to power the projected 2.3 million homes projected in eastern North Carolina by that date. We’re talking about a lot of wind. And where is there a lot of wind in North Carolina? A good answer is the mountains. A better answer is off shore. And, that is why North Carolina is planning for two wind farms to be located in the waters off North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The first is the Kitty Hawk Offshore farm, a triangular oceanic area located some 27 miles east of Kitty Hawk, as the crow flies. For the uninitiated, standing at the water’s edge, the horizon is roughly 3 miles away. So, the farm is way beyond the horizon of a 6’ individual, making the farm invisible to residents and vacationers alike. And, it is beyond the range of the Atlantic Flyway, a major north-south ‘route’ for migratory birds in North America. In 2017, Avangrid Renewables, the same company that operates the Amazon Wind farm in NE North Carolina, won the bid to develop this 122,000 acre offshore wind project. And, in May of this year, 2022, TotalEnergies and Duke Energy, yes, that Duke Energy, bid $315 million dollars or $2,864 per acre to develop a 110,000 acre offshore wind project some 20 miles south of Bald Head Island. When fully operational, the two farms are projected to generate at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.
At this point you might be asking: Where does the Crystal Coast fit into all this offshore wind farm business? Good question. Well, the parts involved in an offshore wind farm are massive. Turbines are 800 feet in length and a blade can clock in at more than 300 feet in length. That’s the length of a football field, by the way. And, the ONLY way such massive pieces can be transported is by water. And this requires that these massive turbines and blades be manufactured and/or staged at deep-water ports. North Carolina has two deep water ports, one in Wilmington and the other in nearby Morehead City. Both are fully subscribed. However, there is a man-made island located just outside Morehead City that is ideal for this type of project. Named for a distinctly 20th-century technology, Radio island could soon be a manufacturing and/or staging area for parts destined for North Carolina’s 21st century offshore wind farms. The property is publicly owned and it has a natural 45 foot deep water channel with direct access to the ocean. The island has rail and highway connections with the mainland and Morehead City water and sewer facilities. The zoning is in place and the acreage is available to build a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and a 100,000 square feet warehouse. An existing pier could be modified to accommodate the roll-on/roll-method required for loading massive turbines and their blades. There’s even enough undeveloped land to use as lay-down areas for all this massive equipment.
The opportunity to repurpose Radio Island as a staging or fabrication port for wind farms off the coast of North Carolina is a ‘win’ for North Carolina in general and Morehead City, the Crystal Coast and Carteret County, specifically. Another ‘win’ for North Carolina is the support North Carolina voters have for alternatives to carbon-based energy sources. The majority of voters polled, about 70%, envision wind farms developing more good jobs, fostering a stronger economy, bringing cleaner air and limiting or reversing the harmful effects carbon-based fuels have had on the climate. All this kumbaya sounds great, but when the proverbial rubber meets the road, where does the money come from? Well, a third ‘win’ for North Carolina is that the General Assembly has not been shy about supporting deep water port projects. State leaders also have not been shy in offering financial sweeteners to foster public-private partnerships or lure a manufacturer here. Bottom line, wind farms whether they are on- or off-shore, are a 'win-win-win' not only for North Carolina and its current voters, but also for these voters’ children and their children’s children. To keep up with the progress in these offshore wind farms, please go to my website, www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com or at Kindle.
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