President’s Obama 2011 State of the Union address touted the importance of clean-energy technologies for solving America’s energy-related problems.

“Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all; and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen,” Obama said in his address.

North Carolina has attracted interest as a possible site for offshore and land-based wind farms.

Robert Propes, development manager for Charlottesville, Va.- based Apex Wind Energy, spoke about his firm’s interest in the Outer Banks as a possible site for an offshore wind farm in a recent interview with the Washington Daily News. The company has regional offices in New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

In the summer of 2010, Apex acquired a firm called Outer Banks Ocean Energy. Don Evans and Dr. John Bane, the former principals of OBOE, remain with Apex Wind Energy as advisors.

Propes said his company relied on a 2009 study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to identify a project area for an offshore wind farm.

“They had some funding from the state Legislature. They spent about a year looking at a wide variety of constraints č environmental, fishing, recreation, sub-surface bottoms, water depths. They wanted to try and identify what areas of the coast made the most sense for wind energy development. Some of the input they got was from the military. Although that picture wasn’t really complete, as the Navy didn’t provide them with as much information as they would have liked when they asked. “

A suitable area was identified in Onslow Bay, between Morehead City and Cape Fear.

“There’s 24 lease blocks. I say lease blocks because when you get beyond three miles off the coast of any each state, it becomes federally controlled waters,” he said. “The agency that is responsible for leasing these areas is called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. They sit within the Department of Interior.”

Apex submitted an “unsolicited lease application” to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in July 2010 for the 24-block area. Propes said a lease block has an area of nine square miles.

Propes elaborated on what happened after Apex submitted its application.

“Because there was no formal call for nominations, they basically said thanks for expressing your interest. Now, we need to set up a state task force to formally identify areas that make sense for the state,” he said. “With the help of the state, they have identified about 50-plus people to serve on this task force. They had their first meeting in Wilmington, North Carolina, in late January. They are going to have another one in March. The whole purpose of this group that is compromised of public officials and local elected leaders is to determine the preferred areas of development of the coast of North Carolina. There are a few members on that group that represent the military bases in North Carolina.’’

Large portions of the area identified in Onslow Bay for offshore wind development are used for military air and amphibious exercises.

Propes said that issue presents some potential conflict.

The military believes some areas identified as possible offshore wind development sites would be unsuitable for such activity because they are used for live-fire exercises by the military, he said.

The process of identifying which areas present conflict is scheduled to end early this month. The military’s findings will be presented to the state’s wind-energy task force sometime this month. Other agencies will weigh in with their thoughts on offshore wind-energy development.

Propes discussed purpose of the task force’s meeting.

“The goal is to identify these areas that are preferred for offshore wind development. BOEM will then take that information and come out with a formal solicitation, the goal of which will be a May or June time frame with which to solicit official responses from developers that have an interest in offshore wind energy,” he said.

Propes said that Apex’s identified area to date could be modified as its understand what the preferred areas of development will be.

Federal and state agencies will be involved with the permitting process for the wind-farms.

Apex will be working beyond three miles offshore where the federal government has jurisdiction. Because Apex will bring a cable ashore, that will trigger state jurisdiction over the project.

State historic preservation regulations could come into play if there is any kind of visual impact from the wind farm on any historic site that sits on the coast.

The State Historic Preservation Office and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources are two state agencies involved in the process of bringing offshore wind energy to North Carolina.

A good location

Propes believes North Carolina is a good location for building an offshore wind farm.

“Our thoughts are that North Carolina is supremely positioned if you look at all the states on the Eastern Seaboard. It has some very critical attributes that are important to offshore wind development. It is a right-to-work state. It has a heritage of manufacturing. It has some very good research and development expertise that can be leveraged,” he said. “It has the best wind resource of any state along the Eastern Seaboard. Those elements we believe put it in a great position to attract wind turbine-component suppliers and develop an offshore wind supply chain in the state that could not only provide components for wind farms off its coast but components for other states with developing projects. This is a great opportunity for North Carolina to go after its fair share of economic development.”

Propes said he is not aware of any county-level regulations connected to Apex’s project.

Propes said the lease application submitted for the North Carolina area could support a 1,700 megawatt project. He said Apex believes in developing projects that are 1,000 megawatts or larger to achieve economies of scale, enabling the state to develop the foundation of an offshore supply chain that will produce jobs beyond the construction of an offshore project, and to enable the U.S. Department of Energy to achieve the stated goal of developing 10 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2020 and 54 gigawatts by 2030. A 1,000-megawatt project will need to be developed in phases, perhaps in 300 megawatt-sized chunks, with energy being delivered as each phase is completed, he said.

When Apex is ready to purchase turbines, it will be looking at five- to seven-megawatt turbines. For a 1,000-megawatt project, this would be 143 to 200 turbines, depending on the size of the turbine used, Propes said.

If Apex is successful in obtaining a lease, it is conceivable that construction could start in 2016, he said. Depending on the size of the project, construction could be a two-year effort.

Apex has proposed projects in Lake Erie, in response to a New York Power Authority solicitation. It also has unsolicited leases č through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management č in Virginia. It has responded to a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management request for entities with an interest in Maryland as a site for wind farms.

Apex’s development-stage efforts are influenced by what areas the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management selects to offer leases within. Apex may only consider areas that are offered under a lease arrangement.

Other interest

Other companies are also trying to bring wind energy to North Carolina.

Iberdrola Renewables, a Portland, Ore.-based company, has filed documents to get 20,000 acres of land near Elizabeth City, where turbines would create enough power for 55,000 homes.

Iberdrola filed a Jan. 27 application with the North Carolina Utilities Commission.  The commission regulates all public utilities in North Carolina.

Randy Keaton, county manager for Pasquotank County, offered some comments on Iberdrola’s efforts.

“They are looking at 150 turbines spread across Pasquotank (County) and Perquimans County. It would be 150 individual sites,” he said. “There are numerous property owners out there that they are dealing with. There are some smaller turbines with businesses. But this is the first utility-scale wind-energy project in any part of North Carolina.”

Keaton said that he believes the Desert Wind Power Project will not have any effect on Elizabeth’s City’s power rates.

The city purchases its power from the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency. It is locked into a contract with NCEMPA.

The proposed project is at estimated to be 10 or 15 miles outside the city limits.

Iberdrola has been studying the wind in that area for almost a year. It has installed wind-monitoring equipment in that area to capture the average wind speed there.

“They have given us information on the number of jobs it would create. It would create probably at least 200 jobs during the construction phase. Well, no, probably more than that, probably several hundred jobs during the construction phase. It is a massive construction project,” Keaton said.

Each of the wind turbines are about 475 feet tall.

After the construction phase is completed, it is estimated that 20 turbine-maintenance jobs will be created.

Keaton said the county adopted an ordinance that allows wind-turbine facilities in the county.

Iberdrola has to go through a conditional-use-permit process with the county before it can begin construction. It will submit an application seeking a permit within the next month.

“There will be public hearings, and we are looking at sometime this summer going through that process,” Keaton said.