Atantic City Solar and Wind Power Projects
Atlantic City, NJ is one of the most aggressive Cities in the Nation in efforts to meet its electrical needs from clean, renewable, power generating sources, particularly solar and wind.
Three solar and wind power projects that Atlantic City is involved in are shown below.
Link to: Larger Image
Solar Power
The Atlantic City Convention Center now has the largest rooftop solar panel array in the United States.
The 13,321 solar panels can generate up to 2.4 megawatts of power, on good sun days.
Wind Farm
Right off of Route 30, and not far from The Borgata, there is a wind farm that contains five 380 foot tall windmills.
The windmills turn GE turbines, each capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of power. The windmills supply power for the Atlantic County Utilities Authority.
Offshore Wind Turbine
- photo courtesy of GSOE
Offshore Wind Farm
In October 2009, the NJ Board of Public Utilities selected Garden State Wind Offshore Energy, a joint venture between the Public Services Enterprise Group and Deepwater Winds of Hoboken, NJ to build 96 wind turbines off the Coast of Atlantic City and Avalon.
The $1 Billion dollar project will generate about 350 megawatts of power, enough to supply the electrical
needs of tens of thousands of homes and to meet about
5% of NJ's needs.
The wind turbines will be located between
16 and 20 miles offshore, where the winds are expected to be high and
beyond where they would interfere with the view from the beach. See illustration below.
What wind turbines would look like at varying distances from the shore. (Illustration: P.S.E.G.)
Fishermans Energy Wind Farm
In January 2010 Fishermans Energy Corp. announced plans to build a 20 meagawatt wind farm about three miles offshore from Atlantic City.
The project would consist of six turbines and they would be visible from the Atlantic City boardwalk. They stated that the wind farm would more likely be a tourist draw than an eyesore. The project is planned for completion by October 2011.
Larger photos are shown below.
Atlantic City Convention Center Roof Solar Array
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitor Bureau. You can also see the nearby ACUA wind farm in the background.
ACUA Wind Farm
U.S. route 30 goes right past the entrance to this wind farm.
Atlantic City Windmills in action.