The five Great Lakes—Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario—contain 20% of the planet’s freshwater resources. They provide drinking water to more than 40 million people. And they hold a wealth of wind energy potential.
To gain a greater understanding of this possibility, as well as the obstacles facing Great Lakes wind energy development, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office funded research by National Renewable Energy Laboratory staff. The resulting report, Great Lakes Wind Energy Challenges and Opportunities Assessment, defines a comprehensive research program to address these issues and charts a commercial pathway for wind energy in the Great Lakes that begins before 2035.
“Everything has to be brought through the locks or built on the lakes,” Musial said. “For floating offshore wind energy, most of the construction and assembly will need to be administered at a Great Lakes port, similar to what we envision on the ocean. But for fixed-bottom foundations, we must find alternatives to typical ocean-based offshore wind technologies, which require giant installation vessels.
Other deployment issues related to developing wind energy in the Great Lakes could slow the process and potentially increase project capital costs. These include installing the turbines far enough out from shore to mitigate viewshed concerns, environmental issues such as potential bird and bat interactions, and competition with nearby, utility-scale land-based wind and solar energy that is currently less expensive.
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