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.”

“The city of Cleveland fully supports the creation of this offshore wind farm. We have signed a memorandum of understanding to help move the project forward, and Cleveland Public Power is geared up to purchase 20 percent of the energy created by the wind farm,” Jackson wrote.

The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) is developing a pilot project near the city.

“For this vision to become a reality, our entire community needs to rally behind LEEDCo and the offshore wind farm,” according to Jackson. “This will require that both the private sector and the public sector set aside their own, short-term self-interests and focus on the long-term benefits to our economy, our work force and our community.”

MA Court Will Hear Cape Wind Appeal

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear an appeal of the approved Cape Wind power purchase agreement, the Worcester Business Journal reported yesterday.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts has appealed the agreement because of the projected additional costs of electricity from Cape Wind. The power purchase agreement was approved late last year. The group expects a ruling from the court in late 2011 or early 2012, according to the report.

“We’ve always made it clear that we are not only willing but also capable of helping to support the whole project,” Siemens Chief Financial Officer Josef Kaeser told Bloomberg in an interview.

Kaeser said that he does not “have any doubt” that Cape Wind will be built.

NPR Says Cleveland Could Have First Offshore Wind

Developers plan to start building a pilot offshore wind farm near Cleveland next year and believe that the project will be the first offshore wind in the country, National Public Radio reported today.

The actual development of the five-turbine project will be completed by Freshwater Wind, a company backed by General Electric, Bechtel and Cavallo Energy.

“The Great Lakes will really be home to offshore wind long before we see it in the Atlantic,” said Chris Wissemann of Freshwater Wind.

During a hearing on renewable energy development on public lands and waters, Chairman Doc. Hasting called on the White House to end “bureaucratic delays, unnecessary lawsuits and burdensome environmental regulations [that] impede our ability to harness wind and solar energy on public lands.”

The witness list included Cape Wind chief Jim Gordon and Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition. Ed Markey, the Democratic ranking member, asked the hearing witnesses if their industries needed more predictability. Every witness answered yes.

“As the chairman said, certainty is very important,” Lanard said.

Leasing Agreement Sets Precedent For Lake Erie Offshore Wind

A revenue sharing agreement struck last week by the local governments surrounding the proposed Lake Erie offshore wind project will set a precedent for revenue from future offshore wind development, Cleveland.com reported today.

“When other land leases are reached for turbines that may be built in the future, this sets an example for the other projects that may not be located in Cuyahoga County,” said John Kohlstrand, a spokesperson for Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald. “The benefit here is by everyone working together, these multiple counties wouldn’t be feuding over the wind turbines.”

Cleveland Conference Will Focus On Offshore Wind Supply Chain

Cleveland will host a conference on July 13 and 14 that will focus on developing an offshore wind supply chain.

The event, organized by the Great Lakes Wind Network, will feature sessions such as “Achieving Global Manufacturing Competitiveness” and “Inventing It Here: Lowering Costs Through New Design.”

Senior Massachusetts political leaders, state energy officials and offshore wind industry representatives gathered Wednesday to open the $38 million facility — which is the nation’s largest blade testing operation. Engineers will soon will test a blade from TPI Composites, which has a facility in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts.

“We are booked for the next 18 months,” said Patrick Cloney, director of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Craig Christenson of Clipper Windpower told the audience that the facility is a ”field of dreams” for engineers.

“Thank you all for building it,” he said. “We have come.”

Nearby Counties Will Share In Cleveland Offshore Wind Lease Payment

Three counties near Cleveland will share the lease payment from a planned offshore wind development in Lake Erie, the Ashtabula Star Beacon reported yesterday.

Cuyahoga County and its Port Authority will receive 40 percent of the lease payment according to the report. The three other counties in the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. — Ashtabula, Lake and Lorain Counties — will share the remaining money.

Richmond Op-Ed Calls For Offshore Wind Instead of Oil Drilling

The Richmond Times Dispatch published a sharp critique of Virginia’s energy policy yesterday by Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who called for offshore wind development instead of offshore oil drilling.

“Pushing for dangerous offshore drilling just a few miles from Virginia Beach in 2011 is the technological equivalent of building canals during the early days of railroad. Or investing in manual typewriters in, say, 1985,” Tidwell wrote. “For a modern solution to our energy woes, Virginia should join New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland in developing offshore wind power, not oil.”

Tidwell called on Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to promote “policies that move wind power forward, including appropriate incentives for Dominion Virginia Power to begin building its own turbines and blades for deployment off the coast.”

Sen. Alexander Questions Tax Incentives For “Big Wind”

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander questioned tax incentives for “Big Wind” and said that the money might be better spent on research, The Hill reported yesterday.

Alexander’s comments came a day after the Senate rejected a bill that would have cut subsidies for oil companies but he suggested that he would be open to reducing energy subsidies across a range of industries.

“My colleagues want to talk about ‘Big Oil’ all week. I think we ought to be talking about ‘Big Wind,’” Alexander said during a Senate Appropriations hearing.

The electricity would come from a planned 1,000 megawatt wind farm that the developer has planned for Rhode Island Sound and would be transmitted by undersea cable. The company’s existing power purchase agreement — for its much smaller pilot offshore wind farm near Block Island — calls for National Grid to buy the electricity at 24.4 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year of operations. The difference in this most current bid, company officials said, was the larger scale and the dramatically improved economies of scale.

“The best chance that we see of getting to large projects in the U.S. is to start off with small projects,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater’s chief administrative officer.

LEEDCo Wants Offshore Wind Farm Operational By 2013

The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, the non-profit organization seeking to develop a pilot offshore wind project near Cleveland, wants to begin construction next year and have the project operational in 2013, Reuters reported on Friday.

Freshwater Wind — a consortium of developers formed to build the project — could reach a power purchase agreement with utilities in the next month, according to the Reuters report.

“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. “One of our main goals is to create a supply chain industry that will support the building and deployment of these turbines.”

Atlantic City Project Receives Permits

Fishermen’s Energy has received its final state permits to build its six-turbine pilot project near Atlantic City, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

The company received an electric-line easement as well as permission to build on the particular site, according to the report. Before it can move forward, the project still needs a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers as well as financing, according to company officials.

Bloomberg reported that the work to lay electrical cables could begin in December and wind farm construction could begin as early as May 2012.

The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. — a nonprofit that represents several government entities and organizations — is developing a $140 million pilot project with as many as eight turbines.

Chris Wissemann, managing director of Great Lakes Wind Energy LLC, one of three companies that would develop and own the project, said the fate of the legislation could “make or break” the offshore wind project.

Developers Seek Same Site Near MA, RI

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement revealed Tuesday that two offshore wind developers have applied for the same area of ocean between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the Providence Business Journal reported.

Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind and Massachusetts-based Neptune Wind are seeking leases in the same 45 square mile area in the “Area of Mutual Interest” between the two states, according to the report. There are also portions of both applications which do not conflict.

Deepwater Wind Chief Development Officer Paul Rich said that he had not seen the proposed Neptune area before Tuesday, but that the competition would not change the company’s plans.

“It’s part of the process,” he said. “I don’t see any surprises.”

O’Malley aggressively pushed the plan — which would require utilities to sign long term contracts with offshore wind projects — but the bill never made it out of committee in either chamber. The legislation was designated for “study” and will be reintroduced in the 2012 session.

“This was one of the busiest sessions any of us have had. We had a lot of major issues on all of the committees’ desks … We didn’t have time to go into what the impact of this was going to be,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. Middleton. “My intention is that when we sit down at the beginning of next session, we will have all the answers to our questions so we can make an intelligent decision based on what the facts are.”

Former Congressman Adviser to Cleveland Offshore Wind Group

Former congressman Dennis Eckart has become a strategic adviser to the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. (LeedCo), which is working to develop an offshore wind farm near Cleveland, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported this week.

“We have a big opportunity to create a manufacturing base for offshore wind,” Eckart said.

Regional Meeting To Discuss Maine Deepwater Offshore Wind

The DeepCWind consortium is hosting a regional meeting in Boothbay, Maine, to discuss the University of Maine’s Deep Water Offshore Wind Test Site with residents, fishermen and business owners, The Free Press of Maine reported.

The meeting will be held on April 26 at 6:30 pm.  Officials from the project will discuss recent studies and seek community input.

1. What is the current status of the Cleveland project and when do you expect it to be built?

We received our Submerged Land Lease Option last Friday and look to have the lease in 2011.  Construction should start late 2012.

2. How is the project being received by the general public?

So far we have had many positive responses from a wide variety of stakeholders. We are continuing to ramp up our outreach to make sure we contact the widest possible audience.

3. What are the unique challenges and opportunities for offshore wind on the Great Lakes?

Unique challenges are the building of an industry and developing the ports & vessels required to accomplish our goals.  The larger Atlantic/Gulf vessels cannot fit through the locks.  We also have fresh water icing that will offer us challenges for building low cost foundations.  However, we are confident that we are on a path to solve this issue.  Opportunities are great since we have a uniformly shallow lake, we are in close proximity to grid connections/load centers and ports, and we have a very skilled work force with lake/port experience.

4. What will the Great Lakes offshore wind industry look like in 2020?

We hope to see 1000 MW in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie by 2020.  Additional Lake Erie projects from Canada and New York should be in the thousands of MW as well.  Lake Ontario should also be in a similar situation.  It is hard to forecast for Lake Michigan, due to its depth, but there are certainly a number of good locations for moderate development in the hundreds of MW.

On Lake Erie, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) continues to make progress toward the nation’s first freshwater offshore wind development — five wind turbines in state waters about 7 miles off Cleveland.

Founded in 2009, LEEDCo is a private nonprofit economic development corporation.  LEEDCo grew out of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, which itself originated with the Cuyahoga County Commissioners in 2006.  LEEDCo’s current goals include building a 20 MW pilot project, then using the pilot project to develop a permitting process designed to scale up to 1000 MW of offshore wind by 2020.

As with other similar pilot programs, LEEDCo envisions a series of public-private partnerships to integrate the project into the region’s economy.  The project also intends to foster a local supply chain by attracting component manufacturing operations in the area, and then using that manufacturing base to serve other projects as well.

Great Lakes wind combines some of the advantages of both terrestrial and oceanic wind.  Winds over water are often faster and more uniform in flow than winds over land, so Great Lakes projects benefit from their location.  Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute has estimated that Michigan alone, which controls about 40% of the surface area of the Great Lakes, has an estimated offshore wind capacity of 321,936 MW.  (Compare Michigan’s estimated 16,650 MW of theoretical onshore generating capacity.)  When the other Great Lakes states’ potential is taken into account, the opportunity for freshwater offshore wind is even greater.

Compared to marine projects, a Great Lakes site offers certain advantages.  For example, compared to the ocean, the lakes are relatively shallow (especially Lake Erie, with an average depth of 62 feet and a maximum depth of 210 feet), and are generally off the track of damaging hurricanes.  Fresh water is significant less corrosive than salt water.  Compared to many other sites with similar wind potential, the Great Lakes are located closer to consumer load, resulting in reduced costs for transmission lines to get the power to market.

On the regulatory front, the lake floor under each state’s territorial waters is held and managed by the state in trust for the public.  In marine settings, state jurisdiction in the form of coastal management zones extends only 3 miles, while in the Great Lakes states’ zones are not so limited.

LEEDCo is the farthest along in the race to develop the nation’s first freshwater offshore turbines, but other developers are moving forward as well – on both sides of the border.  In Ontario, developers have applied to lease offshore sites on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes that have a total potential capacity of 20,790 MW.  Developers in Ontario benefit from a strong feed-in tariff for offshore wind.  Ontario’s policy incentive offers generators 19 cents per kilowatt-hour of offshore wind power.  This contract price is higher than that offered for onshore wind (13.5 cents).

With developers on both sides of the border moving forward, the race for Great Lakes offshore wind is on.

Todd J. Griset practices energy law with Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios in Maine.  He also writes a blog on offshore wind, renewable energy and policy issues.