North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is working on a program to develop offshore wind power, with 12 wind turbines along its coastline and a plan to set more of them out in the sea.
These turbines are the first step of an ambitious plan to turn the city into a demonstration site for coastal wind technology and to use its advantages later on.
After this, offshore wind power will be presented to the residents, as a better option for a place where tourists come. The city already has a substation which can cope with 332MW of offshore power without any upgrades.
Monroe Baldwin, chairman of the local chamber of commerce’s economic development council , told Loren Steffy, the Huston Chronicle’s business columnist: “If you can get used to that at your beach boardwalk, you can handle a turbine 10 miles out.”
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Offshore WIND staff, October 15, 2012; Image: Alpha Ventus