Wind projects in the Great Lakes of the USA are starting to be reviewed

NYPA will perform its review process until January 2011. Military authorities will also have to authorize the projects. If no problems arise, construction of the first plant will start in 2013

The New York Power Authority (NYPA), New York State’s public energy organization has started the review process for the 5 proposals that have been submitted up to now regarding the construction of offshore wind farms in the American Great Lakes.

Proposals for plants totalize capacity from 120 to 510 MW in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, two of the five Great Lakes along the coast of the State of New York, at the Canadian border.

According to the NYPA, the review process for these projects will last until January 2011. If no issues should arise, the first plant will start to be built in 2013 and operations will begin in 2015.

"Each proposal will undergo a wide-ranging review, not only for technical and environmental strengths, but also with regard to economic benefits”, said Richard Kessel, and chief executive officer, NYPA.  Projects will also have to be approved by military authorities.

Currently there aren’t any operating offshore wind farms in the USA. The first one should be the recently approved Cape Wind project, in Massachusetts. Other 8 proposals were submitted for plants in Delaware and New Jersey, also on the Atlantic Ocean, while the other States that are bounded by the Great Lakes (mainly Michigan and Ohio) are planning to build plants off their shores.
The five Great Lakes cover a total area of 250,000 square kilometres, slightly larger than the whole of the UK. Even the smallest ones, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, cover a total area that is larger than Switzerland.

(June 2010)