NRG Eyes World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
NRG Energy has been seeking development of the Mid-Atlantic Wind Park through its Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC. The plan currently proposes turbines to be built 13 miles off the Delaware (USA) coast. The wind farm will generate 200 MW of electricity, enough to power 52,800 homes.
The project is already slated to be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, but NRG is considering increasing its size to 450 MW. However, the project has yet to select a turbine manufacturer. “We are in negotiations and we are narrowing the field” of turbine makers, NRG Bluewater Wind spokesman David Gaier said. “We ... have not yet settled on a model or manufacturer.” Gaier says the company is seeking newer model turbines capable of generating five to six megawatts each, versus the three MW turbines originally planned for when the project was first proposed in the mid-2000s.
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NRG isn’t officially commenting on the price tag of the Mid-Atlantic Wind Park, but sources predict the project to run over $1 billion.
Several turbine manufacturers are vying for the contract with NRG, and the decision will directly sway the future of the wind turbine manufacturing industry some analysts predict. Gamesa, Siemens, Vestas and GE are some of the top contenders for the contract, which could very well be split amongst two or more manufacturers. However, for now this is all just speculation, and these manufacturing companies are refusing to comment until a decision is reached. The project itself is still questionable, and until contracts are official, there is no certainty whether or not the Mid-Atlantic Wind Park will ever even be built.
