Town of Fenwick Island will get “no benefit” from offshore wind farm

Fenwick Island Mayor Gene Langan is deeply disappointed and says the Town was not in any way consulted as an offshore wind farm project moves forward off the coast that will proved “no benefit” to the Town.

Mayor Langan appeared on the Mike Bradley Show Tuesday morning and said the Town was showed plans for the project at a public meeting but was not provided details.

“We have no say,” Mayor Langan said. “I’m very dissapointed in the way this project has been handled. It was presented to us after a deal was already made, they didn’t ask any input from the town whatsoever during the planning process, and most of the meetings that the State had, I know for sure, were held in executive session.”

While millions of dollars in upgrades have been promised to Fenwick Island State Park, the over two miles of state park sits outside the town limits of Fenwick Island.

Ørsted, an energy company based in Denmark, is the company pushing the project and partnering with Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), whose director touted and praised the project, telling Delaware State News it’s a “mutually benefitial relationship.”

As part of the project, the wind turbines will be located roughly 19 miles offshore.

The electricity generated from the offshore wind farm will be used for the State of Maryland and not Fenwick Island, according to Mayor Langan, who said there were talks about feeding electricty from the farm into the Indian River Power Plant, but the Army Corps of Engineers wouldn’t allow it.

“Delaware’s getting nothing out of it,” Mayor Langan said. “The electricity generated is going to go into the grid and Maryland is the one paying for this energy for a lot of economic incentives.”

While residents located in the northend of Fenwick Island will feel the effects of increased traffic and decreased visibility from the upgrades to the State Park, the Mayor said he’s not concerned with the project creating an eye sore from the beaches of Fenwick Island as has been expressed by those opposed to a similar project moving forward in neighboring Ocean City.

“We certainly should have had input,” Mayor Langan concluded. “It was presented to us a done deal.”