04.05.07: No secret: Wind energy reliable
Craig from Wilmington wrote to us: "Please [...] publicly release portions of the Bluewater Wind proposal not currently provided on the Delaware PSC's website for reason of being "confidential", including detailed information describing the variation in available windpower over time. How does Bluewater Wind propose to ensure Delaware has an overall stable supply of power, and what will be the added cost to provide supplemental supply when the wind is not blowing? Although I generally very much like the idea of wind as a source of renewable energy, the portion of Bluewater Wind's proposal that is publicly available does not facilate evaluating Bluewater Wind's proposal for Delaware."
Bluewater Wind has in fact released much of the information Craig asks about, and we assume it will be posted on the PSC website by the time of this posting. The wind park will be generating electricity over 80% of the time. When Delaware needs more electricity than can be provided by the wind park, it would come from the grid in much the same way it comes from those sources now. Joe Kerecman, a vice president of PJM, the regional power grid, has made clear in a recent Salon article that introducing offshore wind won't lead to any unreliability in power supplies.
We tend to forget that no power plant operates all the time. Utilities have been dealing with this fact of life for over 100 years...there is nothing unique about a wind plant in this regard. The "reliability problem" is really not a problem at all, and Bluewater Wind welcomes the opportunity to sit down with Delmarva Power & Light and put these unwarranted concerns to rest.
Bluewater Wind has formed alliances with most of the leading firms working in offshore wind energy, and this will enable us to bring a world-class project to Delaware. As with any leading business, our partners are sensitive to the fact that competitors are often attempting to learn information from the industry leader. Therefore, in order to be able to bring these industry leaders to Delaware, we agreed to work with our partners to ensure that their most sensitive commercial information was kept confidential. The PSC and a Delaware court have reviewed this request, and have agreed that the information is in fact commercially sensitive.
All of the information that Bluewater Wind has sole discretion over has been made publicly available, including the salient facts needed to make an informed decision on the merits of the Bluewater Wind proposal. The remaining confidential information constitutes a very small amount (10s of pages) of the 1000s of pages submitted.
Bluewater Wind has in fact released much of the information Craig asks about, and we assume it will be posted on the PSC website by the time of this posting. The wind park will be generating electricity over 80% of the time. When Delaware needs more electricity than can be provided by the wind park, it would come from the grid in much the same way it comes from those sources now. Joe Kerecman, a vice president of PJM, the regional power grid, has made clear in a recent Salon article that introducing offshore wind won't lead to any unreliability in power supplies.
We tend to forget that no power plant operates all the time. Utilities have been dealing with this fact of life for over 100 years...there is nothing unique about a wind plant in this regard. The "reliability problem" is really not a problem at all, and Bluewater Wind welcomes the opportunity to sit down with Delmarva Power & Light and put these unwarranted concerns to rest.
Bluewater Wind has formed alliances with most of the leading firms working in offshore wind energy, and this will enable us to bring a world-class project to Delaware. As with any leading business, our partners are sensitive to the fact that competitors are often attempting to learn information from the industry leader. Therefore, in order to be able to bring these industry leaders to Delaware, we agreed to work with our partners to ensure that their most sensitive commercial information was kept confidential. The PSC and a Delaware court have reviewed this request, and have agreed that the information is in fact commercially sensitive.
All of the information that Bluewater Wind has sole discretion over has been made publicly available, including the salient facts needed to make an informed decision on the merits of the Bluewater Wind proposal. The remaining confidential information constitutes a very small amount (10s of pages) of the 1000s of pages submitted.
