Daily Press article (Newport News, VA) - 2012 may 08

TITLE:
Gamesa won't build windmill in Chesapeake

SUBTITLE:
Wind firm had planned to build prototype on an offshore site

May 08, 2012
By Michael Welles Shapiro, mwshapiro@dailypress.com | 757-247-4765

Global wind giant Gamesa --- which partnered with Newport News Shipbuilding
to buid a prototype windmill in the Chesapeake Bay --- has decided that it
will build the windmill in the Spanish Canary Islands, off the coast
of Morocco.

The Spanish company won Virginia regulatory approval in March to construct
the 479-foot wind turbine prototype off the Eastern Shore near Cape Charles.

Gamesa and Newport News Shipbuilding have 80 engineers developing the turbine
in an office park in Chesapeake. That office is now expected to close by
the end of the year.

A news release on the company's website says Gamesa will build the prototype
near the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

"The decision is disappointing," said Doug Stitzel, Newport News Shipbuilding's
vice president of energy programs.

Sitzel nevertheless siad the shipyard is well-positioned to work with energy
companies to design and build complicated parts that can withstand harsh
environments.

"We look forward to future opportunities for collaboration with Gamesa
and other alternative energy leaders," Stitzel said.

Gamesa's release says the decision to scrap the Virginia prototype site
was driven by a weak American market for off-shore poser and a slow U.S.
regulatory system: "An analysis of current conditions indicates that a
viable commercial market in the U.S. is still farther out --- as much as
three or four years away, at the earliest."

Gov. Bob McDonnell said Monday his administration did all it could to
promote offshore wind projects, including speeding up Virginia's regulatory
process.

"The fact is, Virginia and Gamesa did their parts", he said, "but this
project will not move forward due to the ongoing lack of a true national
energy policy, and a global market that has become more difficult for
off-shore wind in the past few years."

  [This statement by Gov. McDonnell ignores the fact that Dominion
   Resources Inc. (a private company; not the federal government) is one
   of the major factors in slowing down and impeding wind energy projects
   --- as reported in the Daily Press article titled "Dominion asks feds
   to delay Google's wind line", a couple of months earlier.

   That article appeared in the Daily Press newspaper dated Mar 03, 2012.
   The article also appeared, dated Mar 02, 2012, on-line at
   http://articles.dailypress.com/2012-03-02/news/dp-nws-dominion-power-wind-20120302_1_trans-elect-development-offshore-wind-wind-turbines

   That Mar 02/03, 2012 article also said "Other groups, such as the
   Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority, which is appointed by
   Gov. Bob McDonnel, expressed concerns to BOEM about the right-of-way."

   BOEM is the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is a division of the
   federal Department of the Interior.

   Apparently, McDonnel has conveniently forgotten his group's involvement
   in slowing down progress by requesting a federal agency to stop that
   underwater power-line project --- which almost certainly would have
   involved partners much more motivated to get wind energy functioning
   relatively quickly than Dominion Resources is motivated to do so.

   If Dominion (and its partners) is concerned about energy disruptions,
   note that Google and its partners would be highly motivated to rapidly
   resolve any energy-disruption problems. Where is McDonnell's trust in
   good old American know-how?]

"That is disappointing, and it demonstrates why there is still not a single
offshore wind turbine currently in existence in the United States", he
continued.

   [McDonnell was apparently weeping crocodile tears at that time.]

Other efforts to bring offshore wind to market are moving ahead.

"For us, it's sad to see them go," said Paul Vosbeek, a founding partner
of Real NewEnergy, which is part of a joint venture to test offshore wind
turbines on ground.

Poseidon Atlantic, which is based in Norfolk, is working to set up 10
test pads at several Eastern Shore sites where companies can test massive
wind turbines as high as 750 feet.

Vosbeek praised Gamesa, but said its project was too big of a leap to
take at the moment.

"It's gonna be a while until industry takes off in the U.S., and the
cost of prototype testing is pretty high," he said.

He estimated the total investment for the Poseidon Atlantic project
at between $80 million and $100 million.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)