The Cuyahoga County Energy Task Force (now the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force) formed in summer 2006, putting the county's energy consumption at the top of its priorities. Wind power as the centerpiece of reducing dependence on foreign oil and as the catalyst for an advanced energy manufacturing effort was quickly identified as the desired path for the task force.

Visit the County's site to read the original Task Force report and learn more about the feasibility study due in February 2009.

Their mission includes, "investigating and seeking to implement, where appropriate, advanced energy projects relating to energy supply such as renewable wind power and solar power, production of bio-fuels, such as ethanol, from bio mass materials or agricultural products, co-generation of electricity from surplus heat or steam from industrial facilities or other utilities, supporting the State of Ohio’s Third Frontier Program related to fuel cells and projects relating to energy demand such as energy conservation and energy efficiency projects."

Chairing the task force is Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason—a choice that emphasizes overcoming the legal and regulatory obstacles to, for example, citing wind turbines off the shores of Lake Erie. The task force meets monthly and consists of 18 members, including Cleveland Sustainability Program Manager Andrew Watterson, Cuyahoga County Engineer Robert Klaiber, and Deborah Sutherland, Mayor of Bay Village and President of the Cuyahoga County Mayors & City Managers Association.

The task force studied all aspects of whether or not an offshore wind farm is feasible in 2007. Their report to the county commissioners, released in January 2007, included recommendations on how to proceed on matters of policy, site evaluation, finance, technology and legal/regulatory.

Wind is generally considered to have the highest commercialization potential of all renewables for Northeast Ohio. The task force learned in November that Ohio's strongest winds are found in Lake Erie about 12 miles northwest of Cleveland, about due north of Rocky River and Bay Village.

But, off-shore wind is still a concept in the United States. Pulling it off will take a large, multi-party effort.

“If we think offshore wind is feasible, there will be a larger interest group looking at it,” says Watterson. “Copenhagen is a model—their $60 million wind farm with 40 turbines took four years to get done and had a huge community process.”

Built in 2001, Copenhagen’s Middelgrunden wind farm is owned and operated as a co-operative. “At a cost of $1.5 million per megawatt, it wasn’t insanely expensive. Basically, the cost of a coal fired plant,” Watterson adds.

Today, wind turbines are slightly more expensive because demand has gone up. The cost would come back down, Watterson says, when the federal government changes its policy on the production tax credits. “It’s on a two-year cycle now, where clean coal has 20 years of tax credits. Making them long term will decrease the risk in investment.”

Links

• Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force
• Complete list of task force members
• County selects German company for offshore wind farm and R&D center feasibility study (8-28-07)
• Task force meets, proposes fresh water wind farm R&D center for NEO (1-12-07)
• Group asks the state to help propel wind energy, Plain Dealer (11-14-06)