Comments on TommyWonk: Delmarva Power Truth Squad, Part 5

Tom - I have been wondering what, if any, benefit ...

2008-05-08T16:25:24.442-04:00

Tom - I have been wondering what, if any, benefit there might be off-shore v. on-shore with regards to land use? There are a number of issues that I see.

Land isn't cheap - 0.5 - 1 acre per turbine adds up ($100K/acre)

NIMBY concerns - We see this in that PA project that is being held up.

Transportation costs - resistance will suck up a portion of the electricity before it would get to us from VA or MD.

Off shore seems like it dominates on all of these points, not to mention that there would likely be all sorts of tax breaks that would be required to make a land-based solution feasible.

That's a very interesting piece of information, an...

2008-05-07T13:29:22.196-04:00

That's a very interesting piece of information, and good justification for sticking with HB 6, which mandates the development of Delaware based energy.

Tom -Nicely done! I think that the intensity of De...

2008-05-07T13:24:00.096-04:00

Tom -

Nicely done!

I think that the intensity of Delmarva's recent PR push in a way is a good sign because it shows that they are worried to the point of panic.

By the way, I just came across an interesting tidbit on The Oil Drum website that might be useful to work into some of your pro-wind arguments.

According to the Energy Information Agency, Delaware is practically at the top of net electricity importers in the nation. The ratio of its electricity shortfall to electricity use is 43.9 percent. Only Idaho and D.C import a higher percentage of their electricity.

D.C. is a city, so it would be natural for it to import electricity from the surrounding area, while Idaho probably imports a good chunk of hydroelectric power from neighboring Washington. But what's Delaware's excuse?

Just as it's unhealthy for the US to be dependent on other countries for its oil, so is in unhealthy for Delaware to continue being dependent on other states for electricity. Bluewater's wind farm would decrease this dependency, while Delmarva's proposal to buy out-of-state wind power will only increase increase it.