While offshore wind is still in its infancy in the United States, there is a concerted effort to make the Great Lakes Š and particularly Lake Erie Š the poster child for freshwater success while potentially positioning the regional supply chain as the go-to resource for offshore development across the country.

Those were the sentiments expressed by a group of panelists participating in the "Doing It Here First: Offshore Wind in North America" workshop at GLWN's "Making It Here" 2011 Wind Summit in July.

The panel, comprised of a regional offshore wind developer, several supply chain manufacturers and logistical operators, and the co-developer of the federal government's National Offshore Wind Strategy, pointed to the Great Lakes as one of the most promising locations for the establishment of the country's first major offshore wind projects.

"The wind power in the Great Lakes is enough to power the entire country," said Lorry Wagner Ph.D., president of the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo). "Achieving that is an entirely different picture."

LEEDCo is a public-private partnership that is currently spearheading a five-to-eight turbine offshore project in Lake Erie, situated roughly 7.5 miles off the Cleveland shoreline. The organization is currently leasing nine square miles of the lake to properly position and adjust its proposed turbines.

According to Robert J. Zadkovich of Great Lakes Towing Company, the advantages of building an offshore wind farm on the Great Lakes include being able to conduct operations closer to shore, the ability to ferry workers each day (as opposed to housing them on "hotel" barges), and realizing considerably less wave action than ocean-based sites. Conversely, the challenges include weathering Northern Ohio winters, battling potentially harmful ice build-up and bringing the specialized vessels required for such installations into the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

On the supply side, offshore wind projects require a highly skilled workforce, low-radius local access to ports and waterways, and oversized production facilities which preferably would be located on expensive waterfront sites.

The Advantages of Being First to Market

Several other wind development projects sites in the Great Lakes are also taking shape, including a site in development off New York which is slated to go online in 2016. But the panelists agreed that being first to market with a successful freshwater wind energy project in Lake Erie will have its distinct advantages.

"Being first means capturing the implementation involving ports, vessels and construction know-how, which includes everything from permitting and engineering to building and utilizing a trained workforce," said Chris Wissemann, general manger of Freshwater Wind. "Being first to market means weÕve proven that we understand the business and can take on future projects. But if we donÕt get started, we wonÕt realize additional opportunities. Germany broke ground in offshore ports, and now Germany is the go-to source for other European developments. Future developers in the U.S. will ask, 'who's the most qualified to build successive projects?'"

"The goal is to make Ohio the offshore wind capital of the Great Lakes," said Wagner. "We have the infrastructure, the ports, a shallow lake, rather short distances and an incredible supply chain thatÕs easily accessible."

It will take all of that and more to complete the project that LEEDCo is developing on Lake Erie. Because of the unique intricacies of offshore wind development, such projects could re-energize a host of industries throughout the region.

"It takes a village of specialists Š like engineers, fleet managers, avian experts Š to help develop solutions for a Great Lakes specific offshore wind project," commented Wissemann. Those solutions would also include concrete experts required to build foundation supports, ports and infrastructure needed to store and transport turbine components, electrical infrastructure, and specialized vessels such as tugs for hauling components, barges equipped with cranes, crew transport and housing, operations and maintenance vessels, and cable laying vessels.

LEEDCo's economic development study predicts that the Great Lakes offshore wind industry could conservatively generate 8,000 to 10,000 jobs.

Those jobs would not only support the construction of offshore wind turbines, they would also prop up ancillary industries as healthcare, underwater robotics, shipbuilding, icebreaking, weather forecasting, engineering, even tourism.

In other words, the possibilities in offshore wind development in the Great Lakes could ultimate lead to a wealth of jobs and myriad opportunities for the regional supply chain.

But in order to create these opportunities, Wissemann asserted that the industry needs to complete the demonstration project off the Cleveland shoreline. "Offshore wind is already big business overseas," he said. "If we repeat a small shadow of what Europe has planned, it becomes a new multi-billion dollar domestic industry with the potential to create an immense amount of jobs."

And naturally, the panelists agreed that a long-term national policy will help preserve the industry and drive uninterrupted development.

"Sustained policy transformed alternative energy like solar and wind from niche technologies into big business and lowered the cost of that power," said Wissemann. "Offshore wind needs a similar treatment."