The Haida Energy Field, located in the Hecate Strait, between Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert on the B.C. mainland, has some of the strongest and most consistent winds in the world.
A Naikun project team secured a permit from the provincial government for a 550 square kilometers (212 square miles) area and plans to build the first and future phases of the project. Additionally, provincial (Environmental Assessment Office) and federal (Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency) regulatory approvals are in place fo the first phase of the project with a capacity of between 300 and 400 megawatts (MW).
“Offshore wind is a reliable homegrown energy source and we are excited to explore the Canadian market,” said Thomas Brostrøm, President for DONG Energy Wind Power North America in a statement.
“We see this opportunity as a first step to bringing offshore wind power to Canada in what could become a strategic partnership with the nation’s front-runner project.”
Denmark-based DONG Energy, which has its North American headquarters in Boston, is one of Europe’s leading offshore wind developers. Formed in 2006 with the consolidation of six Danish energy companies: DONG, Elsam, Energi E2, Nesa, Københavns Energi, and Frederiksberg Forsyning, the company has created a portfolio of renewables, based on leading technologies in offshore wind, bioenergy, and energy solutions.
DONG Energy moves into North America
Some may call the move into Canada an administrative move to expand DONG’s reach outside its typical European base, but the move is actually an extension of the energy company’s presence in North America. As Clean Technica notes, DONG Energy, along with New England transmission builder, Eversource Energy, has plans to build a wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard.
– adjust the yaw angle of the wind turbines
– patrol the wind conditions.
In June this year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the Site Assessment Plan for the area, allowing for the deployment of three meteorological buoys. The array consists of two floating light and detection ranging buoys (FLIDARs) buoys and a single metocean/current buoy. The buoys will be deployed for two years to measure the necessary data the project needs to move forward.
In July this year, Dominion Energy Virginia announced it had partnered with Denmark’s DONG Energy to develop a 12 MW wind farm 27 miles offshore of Virginia Beach, known as Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. The project would be the Mid-Atlantic’s first offshore wind project in a federal lease area and the second offshore wind farm in the nation, behind the Block Island Wind Farm.
