According to Mark Jacobson’s Solutions Project, North Carolina could get over 50% of our energy needs – across the entire state – met by wind power. Most of this through offshore wind. Offshore wind is one of the most efficient sources of energy – more efficient than coal, oil or gas, and even more efficient than solar. It represents a substantial revenue generator for North Carolina farmers who initially worked with investors to install wind farms on their property in Eastern North Carolina, and serves to supplement their farm income during times of low production or, as has been lately, hurricane damage in crop production. Yet while leaders of the US military based in North Carolina support wind power in our state, NC State Senator Harry Brown will likely push to extend the moratorium on wind in our state, or even push to make it permanent.
From an article in Energy News Network:
Written by: Elizabeth Ouztz
A controversial ban on new wind farms is supposed to end Jan. 1, but observers fear the ban’s author, state Sen. Harry Brown, will push to extend it or make it permanent before its expiration date.
To prepare for battle, advocates have produced short videos extolling the virtues of the state’s only existing wind farm and another project delayed by the ban, both in eastern North Carolina.
They’ve brought lawmakers on tours of wind turbine component manufacturers elsewhere in the state.
And they’ve enlisted retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Castellaw to educate lawmakers about how the military coordinates with prospective wind projects — most recently at a luncheon sponsored by the nonprofit Conservatives for Clean Energy.
But it’s not clear any of this activity has persuaded Brown, the powerful Senate majority leader who has long argued that 500-foot-tall wind turbines will harm low-level flight training and other military operations in North Carolina.
“I don’t have a prediction on the special session,” said Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition. “I’ll be hoping that what we’ve done to date inoculates the wind industry against more bad legislation. It’s sad when that involves crossing your fingers.”
Read the full article: https://energynews.us/2018/11/27/southeast/will-north-carolina-cement-wind-energy-ban-in-its-lame-duck-session/
