ABSTRACT
Cape Wind Associates is proposing the first U.S. offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of the U.S. state of Massachusetts approximately 30 miles long and 25 miles wide. The project would have 130 wind turbines, covering 24 miles. Each turbine would be about 285 feet tall and would produce up to 420 megawatts of energy and could provide about three-quarters of the Cape Island’s electricity needs.1 The proposed location is attractive because of the available wind, ability to mount the windmills in relatively shallow water, high electricity demand, and the project’s location in federal waters (which affords some freedom from some state regulations). The wind project would eliminate the risk of potential oil spills, create an energy independence from foreign oil imports, and offset over 1 million tons per year of CO2 (as well as 1.8 tons of nitrous oxide and 4,000 tons of sulfur dioxide [by avoiding the use of fossil fuels]).
