Great Lakes To Get Great Big Wind Turbines

[n2doc]

Posted by Lloyd McGraw on Monday, May 24, 2010

Traditionally, offshore wind farms have been located on the coast, but GE and LEEDCo hope to generate 1000 MW of wind energy from Lake Erie within the next decade.

Lake Erie will soon be dotted with five massive 4 MW wind turbines making it the first offshore freshwater wind farm in the continent.

The wind farm project, announced at the American Wind Energy Association’s annual WINDPOWER Conference in Dallas, will be a collaborative effort between General Electric (GE) and the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo). At peak efficiency, the wind farm will be capable of providing 20 MW of energy, enough to power 16,000 homes in the Northern Ohio region.

“Ohio’s greatest potential for creating wind energy is offshore in Lake Erie, and this partnership marks a significant step forward,” said Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. “

GE will fit the turbines with ScanWind technology which replaces standard gearboxes with an advanced drive train. ScanWind is a Scandinavian corporation which developed the technology and was acquired by GE in 2009.

“We look forward to installing our next generation offshore, direct drive wind technology in Lake Erie,” said Vic Abate, President of AWEA’s Board of Directors and Vice President of GE’s Renewable Energy. “GE is committed to working with LEEDCo to achieve its vision of creating an offshore wind sector in Northern Ohio and the Great Lakes region.”

http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2010/05/24/great-lakes-get-great-big-wind-turbines/

[global1]

1. This Should Be Happening In All Of The Great Lakes And We As Americans Should Take Pride In......

seeing these wind turbines out there.

[thereismore]

2. They are such an eyesore... NOOOT! I love it. nt

[OnlinePoker]

3. Only problem I see is the downtime when something breaks down.

The following link deals more with ocean based wind farms, but I think harsh winter conditions on the Great Lakes would cause a similar impairment to getting the turbines back up in a timely manner compared to shore based models.


http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/3152/how-can-the-offshore-wind-industry-overcome-om-obstacles/

[kristopher]

4. The technical reliability of wind turbines is EXTREMELY HIGH

They have less downtime due to mechanical failure than almost any other form of power generation.

[OnlinePoker]

5. I said when they break down.

In the article, they said Vestas has had issues with their ocean based models as they were designed for shore based operations and weren't equiped for the harsh ocean conditions. As it said, the availability for shore based turbines runs in the high 90% because they can be repaired quickly, but off shore repairs can take much longer due the difficulties getting the parts and personnel there to do the maintenance. I wouldn't want to be on the Great Lakes during severe winter weather.

[Berry Cool]

7. Maybe the different kind of drive in these will improve reliability

and make for less downtime.

[Kolesar]

9. You could just drive out there

Seriously--people drive on Lake Erie in the winter. It's like "Ice Road Truckers" with whiskey.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. good news. We do not have to worry about huge windspills...

[AtheistCrusader]

8. But we do have to worry about influential senators pulling a 'not in my backyard'.

Lifetime of service, good guy and all that, but I will NEVER forgive him for that.