The Outer Banks is becoming the focus of a push for pollution-free electricity.  Surfers, Kiteboarders, and sailors know how fierce the winds can be along the Outer Banks, and energy experts are starting to take notice.

A small company from Chapel Hill, Outer Banks Ocean Energy Corp., has been developing plans for more than a year to build a “wind farm” 25 miles off the coast of the Outer Banks, and the plans are gaining momentum.  The goal is to harness some of the nation’s best wind resources to create environmentally friendly electricity.  The wind farm would generate enough power for about 42,000 homes.

If the project reaches fruition, this would be one of the first wind farms in the U.S., but the idea will need to overcome strong public opposition and pass intense environmental scrutiny.  The turbines’ blades would reach 465 feet into the sky.  At least 50 towers would be required for the first phase, and plans call for eventually increasing to 150 towers spread out over 54 square miles if demand supports the growth.  Even with such large turbines and blades, and at mass quantities, the farm would not be visible 25 miles from shore.  In addition, detailed environmental and coastal impact studies are needed: sea bed formation, bird flight patterns, fish movements, commercial shipping lanes, and military training zones.

Getting the project passed will be a formidable task, and building it could be just as difficult.  It is estimated to be a seven year project and cost upwards of $900 million.  Hurricane-resistant towers would need to be secured to the ocean floor, and underwater transmission cables costing upwards of $2 million per mile would need to come ashore over beaches, dunes, and wetlands.

Project founder, Donald Evans, feels wind is one of our best energy options, saying “Offshore wind is an inexhaustible, clean energy resource.  It’s been there since the Earth was here.”

Eventually, the plan also calls for underwater turbines to capture power from the steady Gulf Stream just off the OBX coast.