The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) has assembled a team of local experts and partners to create pioneering scientific and engineering solutions in the development of the first freshwater offshore wind project in the nation.
A turbine in Norway supported by a foundation like that anticipated in Lake Erie has tolerated pack ice there. Icing is one concern for Lake Erie.
LEEDCo’s “Icebreaker” project is receiving $4 million in Department of Energy funding beginning February 15, 2013. The award runs through February 15, 2014, and will fund an advanced technology demonstration program to build five to nine wind turbines seven miles off the coast of Cleveland in Lake Erie. Icebreaker is one of seven offshore wind power projects to receive the federal funding, and the only one in the Great Lakes region. LEEDCo’s private partners have committed an additional $1 million in cost share for this portion of the project.
The Icebreaker team consists of about a dozen partner organizations from Northeast Ohio, throughout the U.S. and Europe, where offshore wind is a $200 billion industry. In addition to DOE, the other partners include Siemens, URS, Offshore Design Engineering Ltd., Freshwater Wind, Eranti Engineering, DNV KEMA, Bayer Material Science, Great Lakes Energy Institute at Case Western Reserve University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, COWI (and its U.S. subsidiary Ocean Coastal Consultants), Project Management Consultants, and McMahon DeGulis LLP. The group will submit results of their work and the permitting process to the federal government.
“In one year, we will provide the federal government with a strong plan to provide clean, affordable, and reliable offshore wind power to the electric grid and Northeast Ohio customers,” said LEEDCo President Dr. Lorry Wagner. “I am convinced we are poised to become the first freshwater wind farm in North America, which will spawn a new wind power industry in Northeast Ohio.”
A proposed turbine foundation uses a large hollow base of some 12.8-m diameter. A 3-m deep recess is dug in the lake bottom and both foundation and recess are filled with stone and rock.
DOE will evaluate results of seven advanced technology demonstration projects, and select up to three of those to each receive an additional $46 million in funding during a four-year period.
To win the next round of funding, within the next year, the LEEDCo team will:
- Address critical technical objectives, including evaluating and selecting the optimal turbine foundation design; reviewing installation, operations and maintenance methodologies; researching the challenges and solutions for icing conditions; and assessing the technical and financial feasibility of the overall project
- Complete the necessary permit applications
- Secure power purchase agreements with potential customers, and address initial interconnectivity considerations Team members from around the world gathered in Cleveland recently to kick-off the project, discuss their approach and how they will collaborate on breakthrough technologies and materials. Here are some of their initial plans.
“Think of Icebreaker in Lake Erie as the flagship of projects that could be installed in the Great Lakes, which has enormous offshore wind potential,” said Walt Musial, Manager, Offshore Wind and Ocean Power Systems at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. “We are all about innovation and high-tech materials, and this project is going to require that type of innovation,” said Kevin Elsken, Project Manager for Bayer MaterialScience LLC in Pittsburgh. “The issues with corrosion and icing will require great coatings and raw materials, and we think we can help design those materials.”
Thomas Mousten, Head of Offshore Wind, Americas for Siemens Energy Inc., said Icebreaker will give Siemens the opportunity to test new icing technologies that could be applied around the world. “We are working on a de-icing mechanism for the blades. Ice on the blades can unbalance the rotor, which would require shutting down the wind turbine until ice is removed. We are working on a way to heat the blades to reduce the amount of down time due to ice,” Mousten said. Siemens is the number one offshore wind turbine manufacturer in the world. With six U.S. locations including two factories and a Boston-based offshore wind team, Siemens has signaled its strong commitment to the U.S. offshore wind industry.
LEEDCo
www.leedco.org
Filed Under: Construction, News, Offshore wind, Towers
Will someone please tell me what is going to happen to sea life and the beautiful lakes with turbines stopped because of too much wind or too little and do they still require backup 24/7 from some other source when operating? When operating will the noise echo cross the Lakes because sound seems to travel over water more so than other areas and people in pleasure craft be subjected to blade flicker and others to blade throw during winter? Why are the developers continuing to destroy landscape, oceans and waterways for non green renewable energy. There is so much evidence that they are costly and inefficient yet we are subjected continually to these industrial machines and not windmills. There has been very little improvement but are being built bigger not better. The gravy train (gravy boat) keeps giving out taxpayers money while consumers continue to pay for rising electricity prices to the satisfaction of the wind industry. In Wisconsin ? or Rhode Island a generator broken will cost the community between $220,000 and $1.5 million to fix. The wind industry is not liable. Who is responsible when they are no lonrt operational? I doubt th wind industry will be as has happened in California.. Just go ahead and destroy Lake Erie for greed not for clean energy. See what materials are used to construct them?