The Palmetto Wind Research Project is a loosely knit group sharply focused on studying the feasibility of offshore wind farms. The principal focus now is a buoy initiative partnering a public utility, a public research university and a state energy agency that places South Carolina among the leaders nationally in the arena of offshore wind research.

In March 2009, Santee Cooper, Coastal Carolina University and the South Carolina Energy Office announced a joint study that could lay the foundation for offshore wind energy in the Palmetto State.

Santee Cooper has been studying the potential for wind energy for years, and the buoy project is an extension of that research. Entities involved throughout the years include Clemson University’s Restoration Institute and Clemson’s South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies, the S.C. Energy Office, the Savannah River National Laboratory, the University of South Carolina’s Baruch Research Institute and Eco Energy LLC. North Carolina State University is also involved in the buoy project.

Previous wind research and mapping has determined inland wind in South Carolina won’t sustain commercial wind turbines. However, preliminary research has indicated potentially viable winds fairly close to the shore of South Carolina’s coast.

Six buoys and two land-based stations measure wind speed, direction and frequency at stations up to six miles off the South Carolina coast. One string of buoys begins at Georgetown near an ongoing coastal wind study at Winyah Bay, and the second string of buoys begins at Waites Island near an additional wind study at Little River.

After sufficient buoy data is gathered, Santee Cooper will install an offshore platform near one of the buoy paths; this platform will measure upper-level winds similar to those a wind turbine would encounter. Coastal Carolina researchers, working closely with counterparts at N.C. State, will analyze the buoy data to help determine the best location for the platform.

Costs associated with the buoy project are being paid by Santee Cooper and a U.S. Department of Energy grant administered by the S.C. Energy Office. Specifically, the grant money is helping fund Coastal Carolina’s research. Santee Cooper will pay for the platform.

There are no offshore wind installations anywhere in the United States, and so there are many challenges still to resolve. While data is collected offshore, a group of state stakeholders has begun considering how to permit offshore wind turbines, and a separate group is considering transmission needs. Santee Cooper is involved in each of these efforts. Federal permitting is also under development.

The S.C. Energy Office said in its grant application that a goal of the project is to evaluate feasibility of an 80-megawatt wind farm. Assuming that 80 MW farm and use of 3.6-MW wind turbines, it would take 22 turbines to approach 80 MW of capacity.

Other issues to consider are the effects wind turbines could have on birds and marine life, concerns about visibility from the shore, the estimated costs of generating wind energy, outstanding issues associated with hurricane impact and the intermittent nature of wind generation into electricity transmission systems.