Offshore wind power booms as utilities seek bigger profits

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10128/1056479-28.stm

Offshore wind power booms as utilities seek bigger profits

Saturday, May 08, 2010
By Jeremy van Loon, Bloomberg News

E.ON AG and Vattenfall Europe AG are among utilities leading a worldwide push to develop offshore wind power, overcoming a lack of work ships, stormy seas and higher costs to make almost twice the profit they would on land.

In late April, they began running Germany's first windmills in deep water, anchored more than 20 meters (66 feet) below the surface. Across the Atlantic, the U.S. approved plans April 28 for that nation's first offshore turbines near Cape Cod.

"Offshore technology is the future, with excellent growth potential and tremendous opportunities," said Werner Brinker, chief executive officer of EWE AG, the German utility partner of Duesseldorf-based E.ON and Vattenfall in the $331 million project in the North Sea.

Investment in ocean-based windmills will rise about 30 percent this year to $3.9 billion, outpacing growth of less than 10 percent onshore, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated. Developers get more electricity output per turbine offshore, where winds blow more often.

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