Over the past three or four years, the preception has arisin that North Carolina had no interest in wind energy, which it had wraped in red tape, and was proud to be among the laggards in developing this form or renewable energy.

This belief was reinforced by Progress Energy's latest resource planning filing with state regulators which noted the Carolinas benefit from offshore wind, then stated: "Once the technology is developed and the regulatory process is established, this untapped energy source may contribute capacity and energy production for the (Progress Energy Carolinas) system. PEC will continue to monitor the progress and the cost effectiveness of this technology."

This was written just two months after a the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill delivered a nine-month study to the N.C. General Assembly which found "North Carolina is well positioned to develop utility-scale wind energy production" and estimated the cost of such prower would be about 60 percent of the 18 cents a kilowatt hour the utility is offering for solar power.

The preception was shattered in early October when Duke Energy announced a pilot effort that could result in North Carolina building the first wind turbine in U.S. offshore waters. It is all described at http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20091006/ARTICLES/910069948.