GVSU and MAREC Seek Partner for Met Tower in Lake Michigan
Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and its Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) have issued a Request for Proposals seeking funding partners to develop an offshore research platform and wind assessment meteorological (MET) tower installation. GVSU and MAREC have acquired $3.1 Million in grants and research monies to fund a portion of the Project. Partners are being sought to: contribute the additional funds, expertise, and resources needed to complete the Project beyond those already committed by GVSU/MAREC and federal/state sources; design the MET Tower/Research Platform; construct the MET Tower/Research Platform (to be completed by September 1, 2011); and provide the overall operation and maintenance of the structure to support data collection and research.
A pre-proposal conference is being held at GVSU on May 3, 2010, and proposals are due June 10, 2010.
NYPA Receives 11 Notices of Intent to Bid for Offshore Wind Projects
The New York Power Authority stated today that it has received eleven (11) Notices of Intent to Bid into its RFP for offshore wind projects in Lakes Erie and Ontario. Formal proposals are due June 1. For more information, see my previous blog entry on NYPA's plans.
Michigan GLOW Council Issues Legislative Recommendations for Offshore Wind
Michigan's Great Lakes Wind Council (GLOW Council), an advisory body within the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth to examine issues and make recommendations related to offshore wind development in Michigan, has issued recommendations for a regulatory framework for offshore wind in Michigan's Great Lakes. These recommendations follow the GLOW Council's September 1, 2009 report (see previous blog entry), which contained proposed steps forward to developing an offshore wind industry in Michigan.
The recommendations, dated March 3, 2010, include a process that the Council recommends for inclusion in any bill introduced into the legislature to regulate offshore wind energy development in the Great Lakes, as well as recommendations for changes to transmission siting laws when the transmission relates to service of an offshore wind energy development.
Cuyahoga County Issues RFP for Studies on Lake Erie
On January 21, 2010, the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, under the authority of Cuyahoga County, issued a Request for Proposals to agencies and organizations interested in providing Avian and Bat ecological studies. The studies supplement the Task Force's Feasibility Study for an early stage commercial deployment project consisting of up to eight (8) turbines with total rated capacity at 20 MW for a Lake Erie Wind Power Project near the water intake crib of the City of Cleveland, Ohio.
Completed proposals must be submitted to the Cuyahoga County Office of Procurement and Diversity, no later than 11:00 a.m. on February 22, 2010.
Michigan's Great Lakes Wind Council Finalizes Offshore Report
On September 1, 2009, the Great Lakes Wind Council, created by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm in February 2009, issued its final report to the Governor. The intended purpose of the report is to identify criteria that can be used to review applications for offshore wind development in the Great Lakes, and to identify criteria for identifying and mapping areas that should be categorically excluded from offshore wind development as well as those areas that are most favorable to such development.
Recommendations contained in the report include a set of criteria (broken out into most favorable areas, conditional areas, and categorical exclusion areas) to identify and map prudent siting for offshore wind, legislative and rule changes to establish a bottomland leasing process, the state ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, and the Public Service Commission convene a forum to work with stakeholders on the economic analysis of different policy scenarios.
The report further recommends exclusion of offshore wind permits and leases from Part 325 of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, clarification of state law to provide for offshore waters to be included in the public trust, and creation of a new statute governing offshore wind that would outline application requirements, permit review criteria, site assessment requirements, construction and operation plans requirements, decommissioning plans, and uses of funds by the state.
Michigan Governor Creates Great Lakes Wind Council
On February 6, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed an executive order creating the Great Lakes Wind Council, an advisory body within the Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth that will provide citizens with a public forum to begin to identify where, in the Great Lakes, wind energy systems may be prudently sited. Appointments to the Council include representatives from the Michigan State University Land Policy Institute, the Michigan Environmental Council, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, ITC Holdings Corp., the Michigan Charter Boat Association, and Detroit Edison. This follows on the heels of actions by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and others to investigate the feasibility of siting wind turbines in the Great Lakes, as discussed in one of my recent blog entries.
WOW - Wisconsin's Wind on the Waters Report Finalized
The final report commissioned by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission on the feasibility of Great Lakes offshore wind development was published on January 15, 2009. The final report reflects comments made from the draft report that was circulated for public comment in the fall of 2008. As reported in a previous blog entry, the report analyzed the feasibility from four perspectives: Engineering and Economic Issues, Human Environment Issues, Legal Issues, and Community Involvement Issues.
The report was discussed in detail this morning in a webinar put on by the Great Lakes Regional Wind Energy Institute. Presenters included representatives from the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Wisconsin PSC. Check back for presentations, they'll be posted soon!
