Construction of a demonstration wind energy project in Pamlico Sound could begin as early as next year, according to state officials who met with Outer Banks residents to discuss offshore wind energy Friday.

Governor Beverly Perdue, Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, and Representative Tim Spear hosted the meeting at Cape Hatteras Secondary School.

“If water levels are rising as predicted and we take no action, we will have made a terrible mistake for the people who come after us,” Basnight said in opening remarks to a crowd of more than 250 people assembled in the school auditorium.

Perdue told the audience that the state could position itself as a leader in “green energy,” developing innovative ways that would help the environment and also create jobs.

“Make no mistake though, every governor in America is thinking about this. North Carolina has to do as much as we can do safely or we will fail,” she said.

The Pamlico Sound demonstration project would be located seven to 10 miles offshore between Avon and Buxton and would consist of as many as three turbines, explained Harvey Seim, a marine science professor at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Duke Energy and UNC-Chapel Hill are putting the final touches on a contract for the energy company to build the towers. Officials said they still need to determine what permits would be needed for the test site because the state has no regulatory framework for development of wind farms.

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The project would provide researchers with more information on environmental impacts, operation and maintenance, and other issues, and could lead to full-blown farms in the sound or in the ocean.

A UNC-Chapel Hill feasibility study released in August found that large areas of Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and some parts of the ocean are incompatible with wind farms due to limited wind resources, ecological impacts on birds, fish and critical habitat, close proximity to cultural artifacts such as shipwrecks, or conflict with military operations, commercial fishing and recreational activities.

Seim said the wind resource over the ocean waters off North Carolina “is among the best along the eastern seaboard.”

Frisco resident Johnny Baum urged researchers to pay heed to the weather conditions that can strike the Cape Hatteras area.

“Hurricane resistance is very important here,” he said, during the public comment period of the meeting.

Seim said the UNC-Chapel Hill study found that an offshore wind farm might create 9,000 permanent jobs.

But Ted Vogel who developed the state’s largest wind turbine located in Camden County, cautioned that North Carolina doesn’t have enough workers trained in turbine technology and would end up importing workers.

“I’m worried about the visible pollution of these sites, ” said Stewart Couch, owner of Hatteras Realty. Couch urged the state to study the economic impact of wind farms on tourism and on property values.

Some members of the audience raised concerns about the cost of electricity supplied by wind farms.

“Offshore wind power will cost more, and the economy here is already hurting,” said Frisco resident Virginia Luizer. She also said any further studies should be put on hold until the state received assurance that environmental groups and federal agencies would not protest development of wind farms due to habitat protection concerns.

But William Howard of Ocracoke disagreed.

“The cost of investment is far less than the cost of inaction. We must change the way we think and account for all costs, including environmental degradation and war and protecting areas overseas,” Howard said.

Jim Kinghorn, general manager of Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative, said wind farms might lower the cost of electricity on the island very slightly. He said they could help the cooperative come into compliance with a state law requiring utilities to buy 10 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2018.

Most speakers indicated that they supported the concept of developing renewable energy sources, but they still had many questions for state officials.

Rom Whitaker, a Hatteras charter-boat captain and avid hunter, said he wanted to know whether access to areas around turbines for fishermen, hunters and other traditional users would be restricted.

Pete Peterson, a UNC-CH scientist who worked on the feasibility study, said access for fishermen would be regulated by the state Marine Fisheries Commission. He said judging from experiences in other places, trawling, gill neeting, crab potting, and recreational fishing shouldn’t be impacted, but long hauling and dredging could be restricted in the area.

Allen Burrus, member of the Dare County Commissioners, urged the state to make wind energy development a transparent process with information easily available to the public.

Elfland, the demonstration project manager, said the meeting Friday was only the first step in actively engaging stakeholders.

The Coastal Wind Study report is available at http://www.climate.unc.edu/coastal-wind.

BY SUSAN WEST | SENTINEL STAFF

Outer Banks Sentinel

30 September 2009

as reported in the Daily Advance

State Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, says a giant wind turbine isn’t something he would like to see in his front yard.

But when it comes to slowing down the growth of greenhouse gases and reaping the potential benefits of wind power off the North Carolina coast, there are other issues besides great sight lines to consider, he said.

“Change is not quickly accepted by me and less quickly by people on this island,” Basnight said. “But how does it impact you or I — and most especially you — if the water level were to rise as quickly as we read by some people who make predictions in the scientific world, (and) all of the Outer Banks are under water?”

The “island” to which Basnight was referring was Hatteras Island, site of a symposium on the feasibility of Outer Banks wind turbines put on by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended by state leaders, including Basnight and Gov. Bev Perdue.

About 500 people, most of them Outer Banks residents, jammed into the Cape Hatteras Secondary School in Buxton for the presentation.

“This is one of those few times in our lives we are privileged to live where we intersect environmental things that are very, very important — the right choices for the environment with the right choices for our economy and for homeland security,” Perdue told the crowd.

Harvey Seim, a marine sciences professor at UNC, said a study conducted on the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds suggests the areas could be prime locations for wind turbines.

According to Seim, three wind turbines in a test area in eastern Pamlico Sound could be built in about a 3-mile area, seven to 10 miles offshore in 16 to 20 feet of water. Each turbine would be about 500 feet tall, cost from $10 million to $12 million, and power about 1,000 homes, he said.

If the initial tests prove positive, thousands of windmills could be constructed offshore, creating thousands of jobs in eastern North Carolina, Seim said.

Perdue said the state needs to be at the forefront of green technology, especially wind technology.

“It’s clear to me that (North Carolina’s) competition is no longer the southern states, no longer America, but the entire globe,” she said. “I believe that North Carolina has the capacity to position herself as a global leader in green energy. I believe that through that placement, we can grow a fabulous green economy that takes care of our environment and our people while it also creates thousands and thousands of jobs to the people of this state.”

Perdue said she has also authorized a scientific study to look at offshore drilling, among other things.

“I have authorized a study to look at offshore exploration of gas and oil — can it be done safely and can we focus on second and third generation fuels?” she said. “What is it we can do as a state to harness the resources God has given us?”

Timothy Petit, a representative from Duke Energy, said his company supports the construction of offshore wind turbines and that ignoring the problems of global warming will not make them go away or bring the U.S. closer to countries like China that are already investing huge resources in wind and other alternative energies.

“I’ve heard people say we can’t worry about climate change and global warming because we can do everything we want to do and the Chinese don’t play. Let me tell you — the Chinese are playing,” Petit said. “The Chinese have begun to understand their contributions to this issue and there is a massive amount of investment in China today in carbon capture and storage, in wind and solar power — they’re all over this issue.”

Some citizens voiced concerns that government entities often make promises that are not followed through on. They also expressed concerns about the impact huge turbines would have on the environment.

For his part, Basnight said that doing nothing about climate change is no longer an option. Future generations are counting on the current one to act, he said.

“If the water is rising as predicted, if we take no action, if we sit back in this county of Dare and Hyde, if we absolutely turn our back and we are wrong, we have made a terrible mistake on behalf of the people who follow us,” he said.