The construction of a large, offshore wind tower in Georgetown County is being held off until more wind speeds are measured.

About six months ago, officials from Santee Cooper said an offshore wind platform would be built by now to measure wind speeds on the ocean.

A contract has been approved for the design of the 200-foot wind tower, but actual construction has not started, said officials with Santee Cooper.

Instead, Santee Cooper installed a small, onshore wind tower in Georgetown Tuesday, in hopes of gathering more information about the potential of wind power.

Some small, onshore wind turbines could be built soon, if the wind speeds showed the right information, said Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore.

“We need to get some data in for a period of months,’’ she said.

The data gathered from the buoys and the onshore equipment is being analyzed before anything is built offshore.

Expensive project

Tests done on land-based wind towers, including equipment placed at Hobcaw Barony, have shown that there is not sufficient wind power to provide electricity to a manufacturing plant, Gore said.

Data has not yet been released on offshore buoys that were placed earlier this year to monitor wind speeds off the coast of Georgetown and Little River.

In March, Santee Cooper President Lonnie Carter said that that if neither offshore buoy location proved viable “then wind is over in South Carolina.”

He said at that time that data gathered from Santee Cooper onshore gauges failed to show “commercially viable winds.”

Gore said there has not been enough information gathered from the offshore buoys to determine the viability of an ocean wind farm.

Public education

Tuesday’s program will attach the small wind tower to the Internet, so schoolchildren can study the potential of the equipment, Gore said.

The wind tower was placed at the end of the Georgetown Fishing Pier, Gore said.

The equipment was placed on a 30-foot fiberglass pole and mounted at the end of the pier.

“If the wind is sufficient, Santee Cooper could install a 2-kilowatt wind turbine at that location,’’ Santee Cooper said in a press release.

The tower at Hobcaw Barony is about 150 feet in the air.

The tower placed on the fishing pier is about 50 feet in the air.

“Santee Cooper is proceeding with our research into a potential offshore wind farm, and we are also looking onshore for opportunities to build demonstration wind energy projects and engage the public,” said Marc Tye, Santee Cooper vice president of conservation and renewable energy. “We think these projects offer a great learning opportunity for students, and they will help us all learn more about this important potential renewable energy resource.”

Engineers will monitor the data for three to six months and if the wind is sufficient, he said.

Santee Cooper could install a 2-kilowatt wind turbine at that location, the press release said.

The wind turbine, if built, would possibly be the first built in South Carolina.

“Santee Cooper has researched land-based wind speeds and determined they are not strong enough for industrial-scale wind turbines, which require wind speeds of at least 8 miles per hour to begin turning and don't generate at full capacity unless winds are moving at about 30 mph,’’ the press release said.

“The utility is looking for sites for small turbines that are capable of generating power from slower wind speeds - as slow as 5 mph. “

Santee Cooper also plans to test wind speeds at Morgan Park, in Georgetown.