A Status Report on a Community Owned Offshore Wind Farm
Hull, Massachusetts, is a remarkable US coastal community. Since 2001 Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP) has owned and operated ‘Hull Wind I', the largest wind turbine (660kW) that had been installed in the state up to that time. More recently (2006), HMLP installed a second, larger (1.8MW) wind turbine, Hull Wind II. Now the town has started a project that is intended to result in the installation of an offshore wind farm, with a capacity of approximately 14MW. This project has two unusual features, at least in the USA. First of all, it involves a community owned and operated wind energy facility that will supply a large fraction of the community's electrical requirement. Second, this third wind energy facility will be offshore. In this article, the overall scope of this project, its key technical aspects and its current status will be described.By J. F. Manwell, J. G. McGowan and C. N. Elkinton, Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts, USA