Research Focus Area : Offshore Wind Power
Virginia's abundant supply of offshore wind and wave energy can be tapped to generate electricity. Offshore winds specifically are stronger and steadier than winds over land. Also, there appear to be fewer environmental issues with offshore wind farms.
The VCERC wind group was asked to do relevant research and prepare a report detailing all the factors related to offshore wind farm development. Those factors include:
- wind resource
- foundation
- stakeholder concerns (shipping lanes, military areas, etc)
- sub-station locations
- turbine construction sites
- supply chain
- job creation
The report essentially will show what a wind farm off the coast of Virginia might look like, what the wind resource is, where it could be, what the environmental effects to consider are, what are the economic effects and how would it be built.
Scientists, engineers and geographers at Virginia Tech - Advanced Research Institute, Old Dominion University, Science Applications International Corporation, Paliria Energy, Norfolk State University and James Madison University are doing this research.
The research was initially divided up into three areas:
- Offshore wind power
- Mapping offshore areas
- Economic development impact
If you need more information about offshore wind farms feel free to contact one of the scientists or engineers below.
Virginia Offshore Renewable Energy
| Name | Institution | Study Area | |
| George Hageman | VT-ARI | hagerman@vt.edu | Development |
| Larry Atkinson | ODU | latkinso@odu.edu | Oceanography |
| Jon Miles | JMU | milesjj@jmu.edu | Development and outreach |
| Jose Blanco | ODU | jlblanco@odu.edu | Oceanography |
| Shirshak Dhali | ODU | sdhali@odu.edu | Electrical Engineering |
| David Basco | ODU | dbasco@odu.edu | Foundation Engineering |
| RemY Leursson | JMU | luerssrm@jmu.edu | Outreach |
| James Wilson | JMU | wilsonjw@jmu.edu | GIS |
| Carl Hobbs | VMS | hobbs@vims.edu | Geology |
| Neil Rondorf | SAIC | rondorfn@saic.com | Development and integration |
| Gary Whaley | NSF | glwhaley@nsu.edu | Economics |
| Tim Wilkins | Paliria Energy | twilkins@paliria.com | Economics |
| Matt Unger | VT - ARI | matthew.unger@vt.edu | Modeling |
| Sarah Karpanty | VT | karpanty@vt.edu | Birds |
