In her Dec. 10 letter to the editor, Shelly Cohen stressed the expected economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind energy for Delaware. I concur with Ms. Cohen’s assessment, and as an engineer, I would like to address one of the most frequent objections to the proposed Skipjack offshore wind farm, that it will affect our pristine view of the ocean.
The objection is actually born out of misinformation, as simple geometry calculations show that, from the beach, the nearest wind turbine will appear one-quarter of an inch tall over the horizon, its nacelle (the turbine box at the top of the supporting mast) not bigger than a gnat, and the supporting mast not much more than a thick hair. To visualize how insignificant this is on the horizon, go to the beach with a pencil, stretch your arm and hold the pencil horizontally where the ocean meets the sky. That pencil completely hides the Skipjack wind farm on the clearest of days. Any slight haze on the horizon (and that is most days in the summer) and the wind farm is actually not visible at all.
The geometry calculations are based on the wind turbines reaching 853 feet (260 m) above sea level and the nearest turbine 15 miles (24 km) out to sea. As currently proposed, the bulk of the turbines are 20-plus miles out, which makes them even less of a concern.
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