Thu, Oct 13 2011
By Peter Brennan
BALTIMORE — The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) is planning to begin construction on its pilot offshore wind farm in 2014, according to CEO Lorry Wagner.
In an interview yesterday with Offshore Wind Wire, Wagner said that the project near Cleveland is on track and LEEDCo officials are currently negotiating power purchase agreements with local utilities. Wagner said the project has already reached a deal to sell 25 percent of the project’s electricity to Cleveland Public Power, a municipal utility. He dismissed the idea that price of offshore wind electricity was too high.
“Some people say that offshore wind power will be too expensive, but solar is expensive [and successful]. I think its premature to say that offshore wind energy will be prohibitively expensive.” Wagner said.
The first step in LEEDCo’s plan is to install a 20 megawatt (MW) offshore pilot wind project in Lake Erie. Wagner hopes that this deployment will stimulate the installation of 1000 MW of wind capacity in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie by 2020.
A key component to this project, according to Wagner, was getting the local communities on board with the plan in its beginning stages.
“We’ve participated in 65 county-led meetings and 180 forums since 2004,” said Wagner. He contrasted the experience with Ontario, where some lake front property owners opposed offshore wind development and the government appeased them by suspending all projects. “In Ontario people woke up and read about a project in the paper and they were upset. That won’t happen here.”
Wagner said that the great majority of people he has spoken with are enthusiastic about the project, and he has encountered little opposition from people concerned about the visual impacts.
“The turbines will be 7 miles out, so they’ll be only about as big as a dime on the horizon.” said Wagner. “The question we get most frequently is “what happens when the lake freezes?”
Wagner said that the project would use ice-breaking tugs during the winter. Playing off that concern, LEEDCo has begun to promote the pilot project as the ‘Icebreaker’.”
Ice is not the only factor that makes an offshore wind project in the Great Lakes unique. Offshore wind on the Lakes is not regulated by the Department of the Interior, so LEEDCo won’t have the benefit of the Smart from the Start streamlined federal permitting process.
“I look on the bright side.” said Wagner. “One less layer of bureaucracy could be beneficial.”
Ultimately, Wagner sees the pilot project and the farms that may follow as a potential economic boon to the area.
“Ohio already manufactures wind components that are used in places like Denmark and Germany,” Wagner said. “Combined with the skilled construction, operation and maintenance positions that the project will require, there is no question that it this project will be very beneficial to Ohio.”
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