People's Opinions and Input Sought:Turbines

Blogger's Note: It's pointless to plant more wind turbines on land, at least in residential or nature areas. Offshore turbines are the ones that countries are going towards and soon what is planted in our yards and in nature/tourist areas will become hulking heaps.


By Patti Brandt
for the Daily News
Published: Friday, March 26, 2010 11:40 AM EDT
Offshore wind farms may soon be coming to a Great Lakes shoreline near you.

Five areas have been identified as ideal for the new wind technology, which plants the massive turbines in the water several miles offshore.

One of those is located in the outer Saginaw Bay, and one is in Lake Huron near Sanilac County.

Another is in southern Lake Michigan near Berrien County, with two more in northern Lake Michigan near Delta and Mackinac counties in the Upper Peninsula.

More than 80 people turned out Thursday at to learn about the wind technology and to have their say about the potential farms.

Though there was not a question and answer period, those attending the event at Saginaw Valley State University were all given hand-held 'clickers' that, using computer software, registered their anonymous answers to questions about whether they would support the wind farms in the Great Lakes.

They were also asked if they thought the wind farms would be harmful to things such as the environment, the fishing industry and tourism, and whether they would be more likely to support a coal-fired plant or a nuclear plant.

The event was hosted by the Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council, a 29-member advisory body made up of people from the public and private sectors from all over the state. The GLOW council formed about two years ago, when it was charged with finding and mapping sites that would be the best spots for the offshore wind farms.

An area must be at least 20 square miles and less than 30 meters deep for it to be a viable option for an offshore wind farm, according to wind energy developers. The Saginaw Bay site is 27 square miles; the area near Sanilac is 36 square miles.

But Skip Pruss, council chair and director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, said the real potential for the state is in the manufacturing of wind turbines.

It's a rapidly evolving field, Pruss said, and Michigan needs to take advantage of it.

"This opportunity aligns so well with Michigan's strengths," he said. The state already has a work force trained in advanced manufacturing, robotics, tool and die, metal fabrication and gear boxes. Michigan also has the highest concentration of engineers of any state in the nation, he said.

"We need to be there in order to capture those opportunities for Michigan," Pruss said. "We can build them better, faster, cheaper and more durable than anyone else."

Michigan is ready to build the next generation of wind turbines, not just for the nation, but for the world, he said. Michigan has 35 deep water ports from which the heavy turbines can be transported via water.

"We want this to be an export industry for Michigan," he said.

The state also has several universities and community colleges, 18 of which have technical training institutes and are designing new curriculums in response to changing demands of the new clean energy fields.

Delta College already has in place an associate degree program in alternative energy/wind turbine technology.

Offshore wind farms are a part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to create jobs, diversify the economy and secure new investments for the state. Wind energy can also reduce Michigan's dependence on oil, as there are no fuel costs associated with wind turbines. The state now spends $24 billion per year on oil.

Wind farms also will help the state hit its Renewable Energy Standard that says that by 2015 at least 10 percent of Michigan's electric supply must be from renewable sources.

"If we don't do it, somebody else will," Dennis Banaszak said of the proposed offshore farms.

Banaszak, a Bay City commissioner, said the state needs to offer companies incentives such as tax breaks to lure them into installing turbines offshore, a much more expensive investment than turbines placed on land.

The GLOW council has been charged with detailing criteria for permitting and regulating offshore wind energy. Because of the location of the turbines in the Great Lakes, several agencies are involved with the process, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard.

"There are so many complex issues that are in play when you are developing essentially the rules of the road," said Brett French, a council member and senior regional manager of the American Transmission Company.

Of more than 38,000 square miles of state-owned Great Lakes bottomland, just 323 square miles are considered ideal for location of offshore turbines. That's after areas that contain shipping lanes, harbors and marinas, shipwrecks, spawning and commercial fishing areas are ruled out.

Turbines cannot be located within three miles of the coastline, which is a biological productivity zone and contains spawning grounds and paths for migratory birds.

There is also a six-mile viewshed buffer zone; turbines located farther than six miles can't be easily seen and won't interfere with the beauty of the shoreline.

The Great Lakes bottomlands are owned and held in trust by the state for use by Michigan's residents. The land will be leased out for use by wind energy companies, with the first lease not expected to take place for at least three to five years.

During that time the public will have several opportunities to have input on permitting and leasing, site assessment plans and construction plans.

Companies that lease bottomlands will pay the state $3 per acre per year, plus royalties of 3 percent on the gross revenues of energy that is generated by the wind farm. The state will use that money for things like monitoring the impact of the wind farms and on the pursuit of other types of renewable energy.

As of the end of 2009 about 144 megawatts of wind power have been installed in Michigan, most of that by the John Deere Wind Energy Group in Huron County. Other wind generators can be found in Traverse City, near Mackinaw City and in Missaukee County.

People have complained about the noise generated by wind turbines, something that would not be a problem with turbines located several miles offshore, Banaszak said.