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Being part of the solution


RunInRed

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An industry of the future. I like it.

Ohio is set to build the first offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes, outpacing neighboring states and a Canadian province whose own plans are facing long delays and possible outright bans.

Cleveland-based Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) expects to start construction on a 20-megawatt, $100 million pilot project by next year and aims to have the turbines operational by late 2013.

Freshwater Wind — a developer formed by Bechtel Development Company, Cavallo Great Lakes Ohio Wind and Great Lakes Wind Energy — could reach a power purchase agreement with utilities within a month. Energy from the project could supply around 16,000 homes with electricity.

LEEDCo hopes the demonstration can jump-start a freshwater wind industry across the eight states surrounding the five lakes and the province of Ontario — all while steering wind turbine manufacturing to Ohio's existing component and construction materials industries.

"We think there is great value in being first, because our goal is not just to generate electricity," said Dennis Eckart, a strategic adviser to LEEDCo and president of the North Shore Associates consulting firm.

"One of our main goals is to create a supply chain industry that will support the building and deployment of these turbines," as well as entice a turbine maker to build a full assembly plant in Ohio, he said. ...

[Richard Stuebi, president of LEEDCo's advocacy arm, Coalition for Great Lakes Offshore Wind,] said, "What we're trying to do is build an industry of the future. The first projects are going to be above market, but that’s the bet you need to make if you want to help build this industry," he said.

"We can wait five, ten or 15 years, and offshore wind will eventually come to the shores of the Great Lakes ... but we won't get the jobs associated with it, just the turbines out in the water."

http://www.solveclimate.com/news/20110506/ohio-offshore-wind-farm-great-lakes-michigan-ontario

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