Federal "wind maps" for Muskegon County clearly show that winds are strong enough to generate electricity only along the immediate shoreline and out over Lake Michigan.

At the same time, wind-energy entrepreneur Brion Dickens recently told planning commissioners from Muskegon County that wind farms must be located away from dense residential development.

So that leaves the northwest corner of the county along the Lake Michigan shoreline as the only feasible location for on-shore, multiple-turbine wind projects. The other option is on Lake Michigan.

"Offshore (wind turbine sites) can be a can of worms," said Dickens, who is part of the Michigan wind outreach team from the Michigan Energy Office. "We don't have to go there yet. There are a lot of inland areas that we can use for wind development."

 

Dickens might not want to "go there," but there are plenty of people considering the huge potential for wind turbine development on Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes.

Three proposals totaling at least 1,000 wind turbines off the coast of Milwaukee surfaced in the past few weeks, starting the debate of clean wind energy vs. potential harm to the lake environment. Other Great Lakes wind projects are being developed in Lake Erie off the Canadian coast and near Cleveland.

The Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center in Muskegon is exploring a demonstration project of temporarily putting a large commercial wind turbine in Muskegon Lake. Such a project would test technologies and allow the public to debate an actual installation.

The Wisconsin proposals and that state's regulatory reaction to them has more and more people thinking about the possibility of Great Lakes off-shore wind. Wisconsin has a "renewable portfolio standard" in place calling for 10 percent renewable generation by 2015 -- a public policy still being debated in Michigan.

"I am in support of our state doing the same on wind," said Imad Mahawili, executive director of the GVSU energy center. "My vision would go beyond just Michigan. Can Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana create a consortium to launch such a project? All would benefit."

It is not too late for Michigan to take a leadership role in the Great Lakes wind issue, Mahawili argues, which is why he is pushing an off-shore wind initiative.

From an environmental standpoint, a lot more study is needed, according to Alan Steinman, director of the GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon. He suggests looking at the affects of such off-shore wind farms on birds and fish.

"I believe that siting turbines off our shoreline, deserves, at a minimum a feasibility study," Steinman said. "It would be foolish not to do so. I think its time we start framing the discussion in comparative, real-world terms, so we can make informed decisions about the future."