Germany, Denmark and Belgium pledge fivefold increase to the world's offshore wind capacity

[Hoopty]

[QUOTE]The governments of Germany, Denmark and Belgium backed a pledge to install 60 gigawatts of new offshore wind power next decade, more than five times the world's existing capacity.
Energy ministers from the three countries joined chief executives from 25 companies including Dong Energy, the world’s biggest offshore wind developer, to issue a statement pledging to work together to increase investment and reduce costs.
The statement, signed on Tuesday in London, builds on an agreement by 10 northern European countries last year to work together to cut the cost of installing wind turbines at sea.
Trade body WindEurope said it will ask the seven countries absent from today’s signing to also support the statement. Some countries, like the UK, need to wait until after their general elections are held, the industry group said.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/germany-denmark-and-belgium-pledge-to-fivefold-the-worlds-offshore-wind-capacity-in-a-decade-a7775681.html[/url]

[G-Man]

Go us. A big step in the right direction.

[Mitsuma]

I always chuckle when I read "Dong Engergy". :v:
Good for us, offshore energy is pretty great.

[Dr.C]

Those windmills will keep them cool

[OvB]

I think deep sea offshore wind is a major untapped resource. My only concern is noise pollution. Human activity is very noisy, and it definitely has an impact on sea life. Whales especially. I feel like a wind turbine would give off a constant drone of underwater noise. Though so do ships and other platforms. So if you're going to build one it might as well be the only that doesn't pollute the atmosphere as well.

[Riller]

No real whale populations in the north-sea, which is the only place Denmark, Germany and Belgium borders with coastlines.

[Download]

Would prefer them to spend that money on an ambitious nuclear program but I guess off-shore wind is the best of a number or terrible options.

At least it has a better capacity factor than pretty much every other renewable source bar hydro.

[Big D Duchovny]

[QUOTE=download;52327618]Would prefer them to spend that money on an ambitious nuclear program but I guess off-shore wind is the best of a number or terrible options.

At least it has a better capacity factor than pretty much every other renewable source bar hydro.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't call wind a "terrible" options, it's relatively inexpensive as far as I know and it's of course renewable. Of course there are concerns about the stability of the energy network and needing to have backup power for non-windy days, but those issues seem to be manageable.

Personally I'd of course like to see nuclear win ground as an option, but it isn't politically feasible at this point in time because people aren't reasonable.

[Fenris]

Offshore wind is actually one of the most expensive sources of energy per kwh.

[G-Man]

[QUOTE=download;52327618]Would prefer them to spend that money on an ambitious nuclear program but I guess off-shore wind is the best of a number or terrible options.

At least it has a better capacity factor than pretty much every other renewable source bar hydro.[/QUOTE]

Even if Denmark wanted to invest in nuclear power, it's really not much of an option for us. We just flat out do not have the space to construct a nuclear plant. So this is the best choice for us.

[Download]

[QUOTE=Spetsnaz95;52332037]Even if Denmark wanted to invest in nuclear power, it's really not much of an option for us. We just flat out do not have the space to construct a nuclear plant. So this is the best choice for us.[/QUOTE]

Nuclear is one of the most compact energy sources on the planet.