California - A comprehensive research study comparing water depths to air speeds will be presented tomorrow.  The details of that report demonstrate that of the three leading sites capable of supplying significant amounts of off-shore wind energy for California, two are not feasible.  The water depth those two sites inhabit would require that they be created with floating platforms, and those are not yet sufficiently developed, according to one researcher.

One of the biggest possible sites, just off northern California's Cape Mendocino, could sustain a viable off-shore wind energy generation farm which would supply 5% of California's energy needs.  Today, that energy is powered by carbon-generating sources.  According to the breadth of the research, when combined with several other smaller sites, approximately 25% of California's total electrical energy consumption could come from wind power.

A significant stumbling block remains, however.  The power lines capable of transmitting the wind energy's electricity do not exist in Northern California.  According to the report, the bulk of the energy transmission lines capable of such distribution are in Southern California where the wind is not as high.  As a result, Pacific Gas & Electric would be forced to build new ones, raising expenses.  Another concern is over the intermittent nature of wind energy.  It pulses, ramps up and falls off from time to time based on the wind.  One possible solution there is to network the wind farms together.  This would create a condition where any lack of power in one area is supplanted by consistent, strong power in another, thereby producing a more reliable feed into the grid.  Still, there is a lot of research to be done for wind, an unreliable-at-best technology, and yet one capable of supplying up to 25% of California's needs.

This research was carried out by a team at Stanford.  It's being presented tomorrow (Thursday) at the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in a poster session entitled, ''California Offshore Wind Energy Potential''.