Use of turbines in the 5 MW class or larger is advised for far-offshore sites.
Tyler Hamilton sees huge potential in a 710-megawatt offshore wind farm just east of Toronto. In other words, the wind farm would be in the middle of Lake Ontario, “about 15 kilometres offshore of Prince Edward County, near Belleville.”
The electricity produced would be sent to the mainland via underwater cable, which would connect to the Lennox oil/gas power plant located near Kingston. Apparently there’s enough high-voltage transmission at Lennox to carry the power back into Toronto and surrounding areas.
In terms of environmental assessment, John Kourtoff, president of Trillium, told the Toronto Star reported that they’ve studied 36 years of wind data on the site and have determined the project would not affect bird migration pathways. There would be no risk of collision with shipping traffic since the potential location of the turbines would be shallow waters, no deeper than 12 metres. “The bases would provide a sanctuary for aquatic life and should lead to a repopulating of fish species,” said Kourtoff.
If Trillium Power Energy Corp receives approval to proceed with this billion dollar renewable energy project, it could by 2010 be the largest wind farm in North America. Indeed, the Lake Ontario project rivals the largest offshore wind farms in the world, which are located in Europe.
Plans call for 142 turbines; each massive turbine would be capable of generating 5 megawatts, which potentially represents a highly prized contract among the world’s turbine manufacturers. As previously reported, there are now prototype, multi-megawatt wind turbines; suitable application is expected by 2008.
When making bids for the Lake Ontario project, German turbine manufacturers may have an advantage. “Germany, in less than six years, has installed enough wind projects to generate 14,000 megawatts of power,” observes Evelyn Iritani, writing for the Los Angeles Times. On the other hand, General Electric makes some excellent turbines and has a home continent advantage. Nevertheless, the Copenhagen Strategy is a role model for offshore wind power installations and those most familiar with such development have an inside track when it comes to building a billion dollar wind farm.
The forecast is that such past growth in European wind energy is expected to be seen in North America and one reason is ROI (Return On Investment), e.g., in one study, 3.0 MW wind turbines offshore of Denmark demonstrated the potential over the product lifetime of earning more than 35 times the cost. Another reason is relatively quick construction compared with hydro power, nuclear or other means of power generation, i.e., estimated time from approval until the Trillium’s offshore wind farm goes on line is three years.
