Ohio is to become the host of the nations largest wind farm. Terra-Gen Power recently secured $1.2 Billion dollars in funding to build off-shore wind farms in Lake Erie. Terra-Gen Power is teamed with GE who will supply the super-efficient turbine engines which require no power from the grid and can harvest energy from wind speeds as slow as 7mph.
The effort plans to deliver 1000 megawatts (I've read this is enough power for 7000 homes) by 2020 but some of these 225 ton, 300 foot tall turbines are projected to be constructed and operating as early as 2012 (drat, just in time for the apocalypse) supplying around 20 megawatts in energy to local communities. The initial offshore farm is to be located about 6 miles northwest of Cleveland, with future farm locations yet to be determined.
This article states that a 2008 study by Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute shows offshore (Great Lakes) wind potential, for Michigan alone, is 321,936 megawatts - more than 10 times the amount of electricity generated in the state, during peak loading, from all sources, including coal and nuclear.
These types of innovations (and the massive funding that goes along with them) are exactly what Ohio needs to employ our highly-skilled industrial workforce, rejuvenate our economy, and make Ohio a leader in this desperately needed alternative power resource.
Yeah, I'm a little excited.
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