While Republican push to get more oil rigs off the U.S. coastlines, Europe is working on off shore wind farms. What a contrast. Will the U.S. miss out on the upcoming clean energy industry? I think so. The Financial Times:
An ambitious plan for an electricity “super-grid” in the North Sea will be launched in London by a group of 10 leading European companies.
The Friends of the Super-grid group, which includes Siemens and Hochtief of Germany, Areva of France and Prysmian of Italy, said the project would make it possible to develop high volumes of offshore wind power in the North Sea and reduce electricity prices.
Last December nine European Union member states, including France, Germany, Denmark and the UK agreed that by the end of this year they would have a plan for building such a North Sea grid. Ireland’s Mainstream Renewable Power, a wind company that is also a member of Friends of the Super-grid, has proposed a “phase one” project connecting England, Scotland, Germany and Norway, which it estimates could be built for €34bn.
Eddie O’Connor, Mainstream’s chief executive, said such a development would be “transformational”, enabling a huge expansion of offshore wind power.
Mainstream said the super-grid would be commercially viable even if only used to connect offshore wind farms, but would be even more attractive if used for international electricity trading; for example, meeting peak demand in the UK with cheaper supply from Germany.
So how are we doing here in America?
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