Research Focus Area : Offshore Wind Power
As is mandated in the Virginia Energy Plan, scientists, engineers and geographers at Virginia Tech - Advanced Research Institute, Old Dominion University, Science Applications International Corporation, and James Madison University will explore whether coastal Virginia's abundant supply of wind and wave energy should be tapped to generate electricity. Virginia Tech-ARI has taken a leading role in the offshore wind studies.
Wind turbines are producing electricity throughout the world today. The so-called "wind farm" clusters of modern windmills sometimes are developed in near-shore or offshore marine sites, which present special challenges. Virginians will want assurances that a coastal wind farm will be reliable and will not have adverse environmental impacts. State officials must look to experts such as VCERC researchers for answers.
Questions about bird migration routes, weather patterns, seabed geology and ways to anchor turbine towers are among the many that researchers must address.
Offshore Wind Power in the Virginia Coastal Ocean - poster from VA Energy Symposium
Research Members
| George Hageman, VT-ARI | hagerman@vt.edu |
| Larry Atkinson, ODU | latkinso@odu.edu |
| Jose Luis Blanco, ODU | jlblanco@odu.edu |
| Shishak Dhali, ODU | sdhali@odu.edu |
