Ohio’s Lake Erie wind farm breezes forward

Ohio officials are working with General Electric Co. on plans for an offshore wind farm near Cleveland that could be the first of many built in Lake Erie over the next decade.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) joined Gov. Ted Strickland and the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. Monday at an American Wind Energy Association conference in Dallas to announce plans for a 20-megawatt wind farm in the lake with turbines supplied by GE.

Officials say they’re working to complete the project in late 2012. A feasibility study conducted last yeawr pegged the cost of a similarly sized wind farm a few miles offshore downtown Cleveland to range between $72 million and $92 million.

Strickland in a release said Ohio’s manufacturing infrastructure is the right fit for the project.

“In Ohio, we have all the right assets to make offshore wind energy successful, including an innovative work force and the manufacturing strengths that would allow us to build all the component parts for wind turbines,” he said. “This partnership will not only advance offshore wind technologies, it will also advance Ohio’s economy.”

Read the full story in Business First of Columbus.