Wind power an alternative energy source for the future

It's unknown why it took a full 15 months for a blue-ribbon panel to recommend a limited test project to gauge the effects of windmills off the New Jersey coast. The idea seemed like a no-brainer months ago after the panel determined there wasn't enough data to draw conclusions about offshore wind farms. But the panel finally recommended creating a pilot offshore wind farm with up to 80 turbines. The state should waste no more time getting this sensible plan up and running.

And here's an idea - consider siting it off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., where residents and visitors already have seen the power and the beauty of the wind turbines at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority's wind farm. Talk about hurting tourism is misplaced. Windmills off the coast might even be a tourism draw. Atlantic City's Boardwalk long was a place where visitors could view the new, the odd and the cutting edge of technology.

But beyond that, wind power is necessary. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has set a laudable requirement that 20 percent of the state's power be generated by renewable, clean energy sources by 2020. The state probably won't get there without wind power. And it's unreasonable to expect that wind generation to come from someone else's back yard - Pennsylvania, for example.

Wind power is a safer and increasingly cheaper alternative energy source for the future. Believe the forces of the marketplace - which are right more often than editorial writers. The company that constructed the windmills at the ACUA, Community Energy Inc., is selling out to a big Spanish wind-energy company called Iberdroia. Why? Because, company officials say, the market for wind energy is so hot right now that a small company has difficulty getting equipment; turbines are backordered for years.

With the sharp increases in oil and gas prices, wind energy is extremely competitive - and environmentally preferable. It doesn't pollute, doesn't contribute to global warming and doesn't force the nation to rely on unstable, hostile oil-producing countries.

What's not to like? For starters, the narrow focus of some tourism and coastal officials. The American Littoral Society, which was a member of New Jersey's Blue Ribbon Panel on Development of Wind Turbines in Coastal Waters, dissented from the group's recommendation, contending wind energy wouldn't generate enough power to offset drawbacks. Some local officials in shore towns contend it will hurt property values and disrupt fishing.

Let's do the pilot program and find out. No more delays.

Press of Atlantic City, N.J.