The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Windmills in Lake Michigan Wind farms along the shores of Lake Michigan could produce a lot of electricity and a lot of opinions. By Kathleen Schmitt
Wind farms have sprouted up across the United States on open farm fields and on windy hilltops. Now energy developers are looking at windswept coastlines, including some in the Great Lakes. Mike Klepinger is an extension specialist with the Michigan Sea Grant program and he works with coastal communities on development issues. Klepinger says the National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently produced a new map of Michigan's wind resources. The map shows a lot of good locations for wind power development, and most are along the Lake Michigan shoreline. "In fact, the shore areas are the most likely to be developed in wind energy -- and the offshore areas -- simply because there's no tree cover; there's no terrain to get in the way of the wind, and the long open areas provide a nice long fetch for sustained wind power generation." Klepinger says if the wind business picks up, coastal communities might find some economic benefit to developing their energy resources. He says there's also a high likelihood that people will disagree about if and how to do that. "It's going to be of interest to local people when wind energy developers come along and want to develop the wind resource, so we're going to try to help communities have civil discussions and really understand all of the issues that go along with energy development projects." The first offshore wind farms in the U.S. have been proposed along the East Coast off Cape Cod and Long Island. Klepinger says coastal landowners are divided over the proposals. Some welcome the idea of clean energy from the wind turbines. Others are concerned about the impact on wildlife and scenery.
Script for Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Additional Information: Michigan Wind Energy Resource Maps, Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth U.S. Department of Energy: State Wind Resource Maps "Michigan Wind Resources" presentation by National Renewable Energy Laboratory available as a PDF document

Source: http://ewradio.org/program.aspx?ProgramID=3948