CLOSER LOOK AT GOOGLE OCEAN WIRES

Will Google Wind Power Project Harm Wildlife? Depends on Location; Google and Other Partners to Invest in Offshore Wind Power Project
Ron Scherer, October 17, 2010 (Christian Science Monitor via ABC News)

"Before Google or any other groups invest in undersea transmission lines to bring wind power to the mid-Atlantic coast area, they…[should know] the National Audubon Society… supports the concept of clean wind energy [but is concerned with]…what impact wind generators could have on migrating birds in the fall. Also, Audubon would not like to see turbines built where the undersea canyons come close to land, because that is where seabirds such as puffins and Wilson's storm petrels gorge on small fish…

"…Google and some partners have agreed to invest in a proposed $5 billion 'backbone' transmission line that would bring wind-generated power to a significant portion of the mid-Atlantic coast, from Virginia to New York, by 2020…The mid-Atlantic venture would position wind turbines at least 12 to 15 miles offshore, which means they would not be easily visible from land…[I]t could move as much as 6,000 megawatts. That's enough energy to supply 1.9 million to 4.5 million households depending on the season…[and] be equivalent to five nuclear power plants, says the company proposing to build the transmission line, Trans-Elect Development in Maryland…"

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"Initially, Trans-Elect has three investors to fund the development work: Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate, which will fund 15 percent of the project; and Good Energies (an investor in clean energy) and Google, with 37.5 percent each. Trans-Elect is forming a new company, Atlantic Grid Development, which will put up 10 percent.

"…[B]efore any wind farms get built, Audubon would like to see at least one full year of intensive study of bird life where the large turbines would be built. For most birds, the over-water migration takes place mainly in the fall…[Studies] can examine Doppler radar images and record birds at night…In good weather, most of the birds would be too high to run into the generators. But during fog or storms…they are forced to fly lower…"

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"…[Projects should not be built] near Hudson Canyon or some of the other places where seabirds congregate. Gulls, terns, puffins, and other birds often fly offshore to eat the small fish that are chased to the surface by predator fish, such as tuna…

"…Fishermen's Energy in Cape May, N.J., has recently started some environmental monitoring [looking at whales, dolphins, turtles] for a pilot wind project supplying 20 megawatts 2.8 miles off Atlantic City…Last week, a barge took core samples to determine the characteristics of the bottom for anchoring wind turbines in the sea, which is about 40 feet deep…[Many more studies are expected]…"