Skipjack is a 966 MW capacity off shore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind tur ...

, proposed by Ørsted US Offshore Wind to be built on the

Outer Continental Shelf The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a feature of the geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U. ...

Offshore

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...

, approximately from the coast opposite Fenwick Island. It was originally projected that the project, which will provide power to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, would be commissioned in 2022,https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/uploadedImages/BOEM/Renewable_Energy_Program/State_Activities/de_web_graphic(1).jpg but

NIMBY NIMBY (or nimby), an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land use regulations. It carries the connotation that ...

opposition has pushed it to at least 2026. It is one of the wind farm projects providing wind power to Maryland, the others being MarWin and Momentum Wind. The initial phase would produce 120 MW. A second project phase was approved by Maryland regulators in December 2021 to have an additional 846 MW. Both will be developed together.

WEA

The project will be built in

BOEM The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, established in 2010 by Secretarial Order. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) states: "...the outer Continental Shelf is a vi ...

-designated Wind Energy Area (WEA) OCS-A 0519, an area of approximately 16.9 nautical miles or off the

coast between Indian River Outlet opposite Fenwick Island, north of the Maryland WEA.

Infrastructure

Skipjack will use 10

GE Wind Energy GE Wind Energy is a branch of GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. History ...

Haliade-X 12 MW turbines, feet tall with

rotors Rotor may refer to: Science and technology Engineering * Rotor (electric), the non-stationary part of an alternator or electric motor, operating with a stationary element so called the stator *Helicopter rotor, the rotary wing(s) of a rotorcraft ...

long (with blades each long), made in

Cherbourg, France Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.

. The

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

s are also produced in France. Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind will partner with Tradepoint Atlantic, based in

Port of Baltimore Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities fo ...

, to develop a logistics center to create a 50-acre staging center for on-land assembly, storage and loading out into deep waters. The

Port of Paulsboro The Port of Paulsboro is located on the Delaware River and Mantua Creek in and around Paulsboro, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, approximately from the Atlantic Ocean. Traditionally one of the nation's busiest for marine transfer operations, ...

on the Delaware River in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

could become the site for the production the

monopile A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural eleme ...

foundations for turbines. Ørsted proposed using 1.5 acres of land in

Fenwick Island State Park Fenwick Island State Park is a Delaware state park between Ocean City, Maryland and South Bethany, Delaware in Sussex County, Delaware, US. Fenwick Island State Park is open for year-round recreation from 8:00 am until sunset. Originally part ...

in Delaware as a transmission point, but locals opposed park upgrades to be paid for by the project.

ORECs

The

Maryland Public Service Commission The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent administrative agency within the state government which regulates public utilities and certain taxi cab and other passenger services in Maryland. Similar to other state public utilitie ...

has authorized ORECs (offshore wind renewable energy certificates) for both Skipjack and MarWin. ORECs for the second phase were approved in 2021.

Visibility from shore

Residents and business, particularly in

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 U.S. census, although during summer weekends the city hosts b ...

, have raised concerns about the potential of negative impact of building a wind farm offshore, thus creating a landscape that could affect tourism. The turbines have changed in size since the initial proposal by the predecessor of Orsted. They will be feet tall.

References

External links

*
US Offshore Wind
{{Wind power in the United States Proposed wind farms in the United States Offshore wind farms in the United States Wind power in Delaware Wind power in Maryland Fenwick Island (Delaware–Maryland)

WEA

Infrastructure

ORECs

Visibility from shore

See also

References

External links