Moving Skipjack farther offshore would cut room for future wind turbines

The Town of Ocean City wants Ørsted’s Skipjack wind farm moved farther offshore, however, this would affect opportunities to install more wind turbines in the developer’s lease area in the future, according to discussions from hearings held as part of the consultation process for the project’s wind turbine model change from an 8 MW to 12 MW output.

On 20 August, Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the use of 12 MW wind turbines at the Skipjack offshore wind farm, after Ørsted decided in 2019 to go with fewer but more powerful wind turbines, which are now available on the market, and to install GE Haliade-X 12 MW instead of the Siemens Gamesa 8 MW model.

During the consultation process, Ocean City officials voiced concerns on bigger wind turbines being more visible from the coast and reiterated the town’s standpoint from a few years ago that Skipjack needs to be moved farther offshore to minimise viewshed impacts – irrespective of which model is used.