Friday, January 27, 2017


Long Island Power Authority,  approves 90 megawatt, 15-turbine offshore wind project

The Devil or lunacy is in the details.
The 15 offshore turbine project is estimated to cost $740 million dollars. [1]
 Cuomo Signs NYS Power Act 
The per turbine cost  would be $49 million dollars each
According to a study co-authored by a Stanford researcher, to meet New York's 2050 power demand  NY would need to install 12,770, 5- megawatt offshore wind turbines. [2]

Using the $740 million dollar figure provided by the project developer ($49 million per turbine)  the offshore component necessary to meet Cuomo’s 2050 renewable goal would cost $630 billion dollars. To put this number in perspective NYS total annual expenditures are $95 billion dollars. Who knows how much will be shouldered by NY taxpayers?  The project is set to start in 2020. What is the life expectancy of  these turbines?  Will they need to be replaced before the year 2050?

The calculations provided in the study [2]
  • 4,020 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
  • 12,770 offshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
  • 387 100-megawatt concentrated solar plants
  • 828 50-megawatt photovoltaic power plants
  • 5 million 5-kilowatt residential rooftop photovoltaic systems
  • 500,000 100-kilowatt commercial/government rooftop photovoltaic systems
  • 36 100-megawatt geothermal plants
  • 1,910 0.75-megawatt wave devices
  • 2,600 1-megawatt tidal turbines
  • 7 1,300-megawatt hydroelectric power plants, of which most exist
[1]
[2]
http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf

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