Province disputes Lake Erie wind project

Neither of the companies that announced the transfer of development rights for a massive wind farm on Lake Erie owns those rights, Ontario authorities told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources disputed accounts offered the day before by a U.S. company, which said it had acquired and was selling the rights to operate giant wind turbines on the Canadian half of Lake Erie, and a Canadian company that said it was buying those rights.

Utah-based Wasatch Wind Inc. said it was transferring rights to a 4,400-megawatt “offshore wind prospect” to Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. of Calgary, Alberta.

Canadian Hydro, a publicly traded company, affirmed in a separate statement that it was acquiring those rights. The pact received widespread news coverage in Canada.
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See also “Canadian Hydro plans offshore wind farm in Lake Erie”

Canadian Hydro plans offshore wind farm in Lake Erie

Ontario’s green-energy Klondike is spreading offshore, and in a big way.

Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., the country’s largest independent developer of wind-energy projects, said on Monday it plans to erect enough wind turbines in Lake Erie to power two million homes.

The area Canadian Hydro has targeted starts about five kilometres off the shore of Long Point Provincial Park and stretches roughly 80 kilometres west to a spot that’s 30 kilometres south of Port Stanley.

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“Truly sad” if something isn’t done to ensure Port Stanley remains a viable commercial harbour and a safe haven for mariners

Fishing tugs in Port Stanley harbour

Shutting down the only deepwater port on the north shore of Lake Erie could result in Port Stanley losing business and mariners losing their lives, warns one skipper who says he can no longer make it a port of call unless it’s dredged.

Ralph Watson of London, skipper of the 41-metre J. R. Rouble, has written a letter with his concerns to consultants considering the future of the silt-clogged harbour.

“It will be truly sad if something isn’t done to ensure Port Stanley remains a viable commercial harbour and a safe haven for mariners,” he wrote consultant Mark Conway.

Conway’s, firm, N. Barry Lyons Consultants, has been retained to develop plans for the port if the Municipality of Central Elgin accepts it from Transport Canada.
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Samsung looking to build Lake Erie wind farm

Giant conglomerate Samsung is apparently pondering a wind farm comprising 200 turbines on the north shore of Lake Erie but the Ontario government would only confirm Sunday that talks with the Korean-based company are in advanced stages.

The proposed wind farm, part of Samsung’s new push into renewable energy, would stretch about 25 kilometres from Port Maitland toward Nanticoke, an area considered to have excellent wind potential.

The Ontario government said the two parties have been involved in “months of extraordinarily co-operative effort” toward an agreement that would involve billions of new investment, including in manufacturing facilities.

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Wind power initiative on Lake Erie passes feasibility test

No red flags that could stop the efforts of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force to build a handful of wind turbines in Lake Erie appeared in a feasibility study the task force released today, though major obstacles remain.

Chief among them are paying for the project, which should cost between $77 million and $93 million unless its scale is reduced, and winning OKs from the host of organizations that must approve the work.

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Lorain Looks Off Shore At Lake Erie Wind Farm

From 90.3FM WCPN website:
Former ironworker John James Sekulic wants to put his brother ironmen back to work – by having them construct multiple Ohio wind farms through his company.

Sekulic’s company has applied for a $10 million grant from the state Air Quality Authority, and this week got further backing of the Lorain government, which favors a wind farm at the western edge of the city, about 2 miles off shore.

But the Ohio Department of Natural Resources hasn’t quite completed developing a regulatory process to award underwater land leases for wind turbine development. Sekulic’s firm needs 13 of those leases to start building 13 wind turbines, and he’s giving state officials a strong incentive to approve them.

JOHN JAMES SEKULIC: The reason we’re doing this is to create economic development and job creation.

Once the state signs off on it, Sekulic says the wind farm off Lorain could be operational in 5 to 7 years.