First offshore wind farm approved in US

The United States federal government has approved the first US offshore wind farm. Located just off Cape Cod, 130 windmills in Nantucket Sound will start generating electricity by 2012. The decision follows the wake of the oil leakage in the Gulf of Mexico.

Massachusetts plans to generate 20 percent of the state's electricity with renewable energy sources by 2020 and the wind farm off Cape Cod will produce up to 468 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 150,000 homes.

Opponents of the wind farm say it will endanger commerce and marine life.