Good news and bad news for wind

The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has had some good news and some bad news. The good news is that an Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by the association found that nine out 10 residents in Ontario support wind energy in their region. Sean Simpson of Ipsos Reid, said “89% of Ontario residents either strongly supported or somewhat supported wind energy in their region of Ontario. Most also agreed (86%) that their municipal government should encourage and facilitate wind energy development, while a similarly high percentage (85%) believe wind energy can provide economic opportunities and benefits.”
The poll of 1,361 adults was conducted June 25 to 30, 2010.
On the bad news side, CanWEA is not happy with the Ontario government’s proposed regulations for offshore wind energy developments. The government is proposing that the offshore turbines should be a minimum of five kilometres offshore. Such a restriction would be in line with similar proposals by U.S. states around the Great Lakes.
The association says that if the regulation is implemented, it “will prevent several proposed offshore wind energy projects from proceeding.”
Meanwhile, Scientific American reports that naval architects have been doing tests in a wave tank that show wind turbines can be mounted on floating platforms similar to floating oil rig platforms. This would save the high cost of anchoring the massive turbine platforms to the seabed. The research suggests that floating platforms can support turbines 70 metres tall that are capable of generating 5 MW of power each.