Offshore Wind Partnership with Southern Company

Offshore wind turbines. Courtesy GE Enegy. Copyright 2005, General Electric Company

Southern Company and the Georgia Institute of Technology announced on May 24, 2005, their collaboration on the Southeast’s first offshore wind power project off the coast of Savannah. The goal of the project is to determine if offshore wind power is a feasible and efficient renewable energy option for power generation. The project concept is expected to include three to five wind turbines that could generate 10 megawatts of power, enough to power about 2,500 homes.

In addition to its plentiful wind, the area is also ideal for offshore wind because of its extensive amount of shallow water at distances beyond the shoreline view, which could reduce building costs and avoid the challenges of building and operating wind turbines in deep-water.

The project also has the potential to be the first offshore wind project completed in the United States. There are only two other planned U.S. offshore wind projects, one near Fire Island and Long Island off the coast of New York and another between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts – but both are much larger than the Southern Co./Georgia Tech project and neither has been approved.

As a key InfinitEnergy partner, Savannah Technical College is focusing on alternative energy related workforce development. The college is currently developing a course on the installation of photovoltaic solar systems.

This summer Lester Wiggins, the lead electronics instructor, attended a workshop at the Florida Solar Energy Center, a nationally recognized institute for photovoltaics education and applications.

• Florida Solar Energy Center
• Course Description
• Course Agenda

The Coastal Georgia Alternative Energy Alliance is a community based organization, and it focuses on regional projects and consumer education.

Two Georgia Tech Savannah Faculty, Doctors Herman Fritz and Kevin Haas, are studying the potential for ocean energy off the coast of Savannah.

Faculty Profiles

IE has assembled a traveling classroom kit for use by middle school and high school teachers. The kit is now being tested by students at West Chatham Middle school.