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reduced the cost of wind energy by more than 80 percent, and industry has built
wind farms on many of the high-wind sites that are easily accessible.
DOE's wind R and D program primarily is seeking to develop new cost-
effective technology for deploying wind turbines for low-wind areas in the United
States and exploring the possibility of offshore wind development. Low-wind
sites—referred to as Class 4—generally are located in areas of sustained winds of
16 to 17 miles per hour and primarily are located in the Midwest from Texas to
the Canadian border. The advantages of developing low-wind resources are that
low-wind sites are far more plentiful than high-wind sites and are located closer to
electricity load centers, which can substantially reduce the cost of connecting to
the electricity transmission grid. DOE's R and D program is focused on
developing wind turbine technology for low-wind sites because easily accessible
high-wind sites are becoming scarce. Specifically, the turbine rotor diameter must
be much larger to harvest the low-energy winds without increasing costs, and the
tower must be taller to take advantage of the increasing wind speed at greater
heights. DOE is using public/private partnerships to improve wind turbine designs
and components and demonstrate full-scale prototypes. DOE's goal is to reduce
the cost of low-wind generated electricity from about 4.5 to 5.5 cents per kilowatt-
hour in 2002 to 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2012.
DOE's wind R and D program is also exploring wind energy technology for
the distinct needs of offshore wind sites. While the United States currently has no
offshore wind farms, several projects have been proposed in the waters off the
Northeast and Gulf coasts. DOE estimates that there are over 900,000 megawatts
of potential wind energy off the coasts of the United States, roughly between 6
and 58 miles offshore. Several European countries, including Denmark, Ireland,
and the United Kingdom, have deployed wind farms in the shallow (less than 100
feet deep) waters off their coastlines using wind turbine designs adapted from
land-based versions. However, the European offshore sites are different from
potential U.S. offshore wind sites, which are generally located in deeper waters
and expected to have more severe wind, wave, and ice conditions. As a result,
many U.S. sites will require new technologies. DOE's offshore wind R and D
activities include mapping coastal wind resources, organizing workshops for
knowledge sharing, and collaborating with industry in developing offshore
technologies to address design, offshore transmission, and interconnection issues.
DOE is also collaborating with European nations on deep-water wind energy and
with states to identify the regulatory, environmental, and technical issues facing
offshore wind energy. DOE's goal is to reduce the cost of electricity generated by
offshore wind farms located in water 100 to 200 feet deep from an estimated 12
cents per kilowatt-hour today to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2016.
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