Energy solution blowing in wind

ANNAPOLIS — A company seeking to build an offshore wind farm off the Delaware coast has begun discussions about building the wind turbines in Maryland waters, state and company officials say.

Bluewater Wind, a New Jersey energy company, wants to put 150 turbines 11½ miles off the coast of the resort town of Ocean City. If approved, the wind farm could one day provide enough power for 110,000 homes, according to Bluewater spokesman James Lanard.

“It’s very preliminary,” Mr. Lanard said of talks with Maryland officials. Bluewater has met with aides to Gov. Martin O’Malley and with members of the utility-regulating Public Service Commission.

The proposal, first reported yesterday by the Baltimore Sun, would bring clean energy to Maryland but would change the view from Ocean City’s beaches. Even from several miles away, the turbines would be visible from land.

Mr. Lanard said the turbines would look like “toothpicks,” but residents who work on the waterfront had mixed opinions about the possibility of an offshore wind farm.

“Energy-wise it would probably be a good thing — but looks-wise, I don’t know,” said Terri Hathaway, a waitress at Boardwalk Joe’s restaurant along the resort’s beach.

Bluewater Wind is in talks to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm off Sussex County, Del., near Rehoboth Beach, Mr. Lanard said. If approved, that farm could be completed by 2012 or 2013.

Not all beach denizens worried about the view. Angel Conner, manager of the Shoreham Hotel on Ocean’s City’s boardwalk, said she doubted people would stop coming to Ocean City because of wind turbines.

“I don’t think it would affect us, as long as they could still see the water,” Miss Conner said.

O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said yesterday that Bluewater officials have just started to talk about a Maryland wind farm with state officials. Approval would be needed from several agencies, from the Public Service Commission to the Department of Natural Resources, which would analyze the wind farm’s potential effect on wildlife.

Mr. Abbruzzese said the governor found the wind proposal “an intriguing idea” but wants to learn more about it.

“We need to find ways to produce alternative forms of energy,” he said.

The head of the Maryland Energy Administration, Malcolm Woolf, said the company has not yet submitted a formal proposal but that state officials are considering wind power among other renewable energy sources.

“Arguably, hopefully, it has the potential to produce clean, low-cost energy that won’t have price fluctuations because wind is always free,” Mr. Woolf said, adding that Maryland officials need to learn more about how much the plan would cost.

Waterfront homeowners who opposed view-changing turbines were blamed for stopping wind farm plans in Massachusetts.

Mr. Lanard said Bluewater is aware that wind turbines are a new concept in the United States. He said the company is in no rush to build them because all stakeholders need a chance to learn about the proposal.

“It hasn’t been done in the United States, so there’s no frame of reference and we’re trying to introduce the idea to folks,” he said.