US gives go-ahead for offshore towers to study wind

Philadelphia Inquirer: Proposed wind farms off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware took a major step forward last month when US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave four companies the right to build research towers offshore—the first such leases the agency has issued for the nation's outer continental shelf. The leases will allow the companies to gather crucial data on wind speeds and other meteorological information. Until now, the companies and New Jersey, which has agreed to invest $12 million in three projects, have relied on public data and wind resource experts. "Now we're truing up the projections," said Jim Lanard, managing director of Deepwater Wind LLC, which obtained leases for two sites. The others, receiving a lease for one site each, are Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey, Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy LLC, and Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC.