Public Reaction to Turbines is Key...in Michigan

Study says large wind turbines to be local decision
By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle
November 29, 2009, 12:48AM
WEST MICHIGAN — Anyone seeing a blade from one of Michigan’s 83 utility-sized wind turbines being transported on the highway understands how “big” wind power can be.

Blades in the 150-foot range moved on special truck trailers are impressive sights. But how “big” wind will become in Michigan’s energy future is still an unknown.

Whichever way the industry turns, it will be up to local governments to decide where and how the big turbine towers will be built, a university research group concludes.

AP file photoA Grand Valley State University wind energy study says local governments will manage the building of wind towers, like this turbine in Huron County. It is one of 83 utility-scale wind turbines operating today in Michigan.A group of Grand Valley State University researchers has begun a wind energy study on the potentials and pitfalls of renewable power production in a four-county West Michigan shoreline region. The three-year study comes on the heels of a state mandate that 10 percent of Michigan’s electrical generation must come from renewable sources by 2015.

“The demand for renewable energy, and wind energy in particular, is growing rapidly,” the first report of the GVSU study states. “The challenge will be to supply the quantity of renewable energy needed to meet this demand in a manner that is economically, socially and environmentally appropriate.

“Though state government issued the renewable energy mandate, managing the deployment of wind energy facilities is left to local governments,” the report states.

Many township governments in the four counties — Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa and Allegan — have responded with ordinances regulating utility-scale wind turbines. Thirty-seven of the 73 townships in the four counties have wind tower ordinances, with the highest percentage in Oceana County.

Grand Haven Township planners will hear from city of Grand Rapids officials at a public meeting Monday on a plan to put two 300-foot wind turbine towers on the city’s Lake Michigan Water Filtration Plant property on Lakeshore Drive.

GVSU researcher Erik Nordman — head of the Natural Resources Management program and chief wind study investigator — said public reaction to plans such as those in Grand Haven Township are key to the technology’s future in West Michigan.

“While one wind turbine might be viewed as a curiosity, the deployment of thousands of wind energy facilities required to meet various renewable energy targets will bring changes to the nation’s landscapes, communities and economies,” the initial GVSU wind report states.

As GVSU researchers continue to work on their wind study, public opinion will begin to be collected. The study team will have workshops and public meetings throughout the region next summer.

The wind study team has a Web site at www.gvsu.edu/wind and will establish social networking outreaches through Facebook and Twitter, Nordman said.

The wind study is supported through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Sea Grant award through the state of Michigan. The next report is scheduled to be released in November 2010 and final reports in February and May 2011.

E-mail Dave Alexander at dalexander@muskegonchronicle.com