Power Authority pushes $1 billion lakeside wind farm
Potential to develop local industry called 'extraordinary'
The state took its first step Wednesday to promote the construction of a large wind farm off the shores of Lake Erie or Lake Ontario that would cost an estimated $1 billion to develop.
The goal is to erect a cluster of turbines — 25 to 40, depending on their generating capacity—and nurture an industry to manufacture and assemble windmills for projects taking root around the Great Lakes.
“The potential for wind [power] in the Great Lakes is extraordinary,” said Richard M. Kessel, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority, who announced the undertaking at Buffalo’s Erie Basin Marina.
“This is going to happen. This is workable. This is feasible,” Kessel said.
Local wind power advocates applauded the authority’s initiative, saying the proposal unveiled Wednesday is intelligently crafted.
“I think they’ve done an excellent job in identifying their needs,” said Mark B. Mitskovski, an energy consultant who served as project manager during the construction of the Steel Winds project in Lackawanna.
But he and another prominent wind power advocate cautioned that a lot of environmental, aesthetic, engineering and technological issues need to be resolved.
“There are some very significant issues and questions that have to be answered,” said Robert Knor, chairman of the Wind Action Committee. The local research and advocacy organization commissioned a study done last year by the University at Buffalo Law Clinic that influenced the authority’s initiative.
The authority envisions a wind farm with a minimum capacity of 120 megawatts, considered a large, but not huge, project that would be six times the capacity of the Steel Winds project on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant. Kessel said the power generated would stay in Western New York.
To facilitate the project, the authority would sign a power purchase agreement for 20 years, providing developers a guaranteed revenue stream that would allow them to obtain financing for the project. Authority officials said they are open to other options, including a joint venture that could draw on its considerable bonding capacity and cash reserves.
There are five major wind energy developers around the world, and a venue is likely to involve one of more of them. Kessel said he has spoken with several developers, who, he said, have expressed “a great deal of interest.”
Western New York is considered a prime location for wind generation as one of the windiest urban areas east of the Mississippi, with a shoreline that, for the most part, is sparsely populated. The Great Lakes, as a whole, have great potential, and Ontario, Ohio and Pennsylvania already are making inroads as generation or manufacturing centers, although none of them has placed a wind farm in the water.
The study done by the UB Law Clinic estimated that developing just 10 percent of the wind capacity of Lakes Erie and Ontario would yield 8,200 megawatts, or about three times the amount of electricity generated at the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston, one of the nation’s largest hydropower complexes.
President Obama and Gov. David A. Paterson have made development of wind power a priority in the face of global warming and periodic energy shocks. At present, wind power accounts for less than 1 percent of the electricity generated in New York State, although projects at various stages of planning would boost production from 1,000 to about 8,000 megawatts.
The Power Authority is still in the exploratory stage with the Western New York project. Wednesday, it issued a “request for an expression of interest,” seeking information from prospective developers. Kessel said he expects to issue a request for proposals by the end of the year.
If the details can be worked out, he said, a developer could be selected by the end of next year. The permit process and construction would take at least an additional 2z years, he said.
“Our goal is to have an offshore wind project . . . within five years,” said Kessel, who developed plans for a controversial wind power project off Jones Beach when he served as president of the Long Island Power Authority. The plan was scuttled after Eliot L. Spitzer became governor.
Knor, of the Wind Action group, cautioned that it could take more than five years to complete a project because “there are some very sensitive issues that have to be dealt with,” including the impact on birds and fish, and the challenges of designing and constructing turbine platforms that would be placed in about 50 feet of water and would have to withstand winter ice.
Offshore turbines are more costly to build than those placed on land. But they also generate more power because winds blow stronger and more consistently on the lake, as turbines are usually placed at least several miles offshore.
Like Kessel and Knor, Mitskovski, the former Steel Winds manager, said the project would enable the region to develop an industry to service wind power operators. In fact, the authority’s proposal makes it clear that it wants the manufacturing and assembly of the turbines done locally, to the extent feasible.
Some large components, such as the blades, would likely be constructed elsewhere, Mitskovski said. But windmills include dozens and dozens of parts, many of which could be produced locally. Others locales have a leg up on this region when it comes to manufacturing, however, although not an insurmountable lead.
No one in the Great Lakes region, however, has cornered the market on assembling the various parts into completed wind turbines. Mitskovski, Kessel and Knor all say this presents an opportunity for the Buffalo Niagara region, in part because of its under-used industrial capacity.
How many jobs would result is open to debate. The offshore generating facility would not be a major job-creator, but its construction would result in a lot of short-term employment. The more significant employment opportunities lie in manufacturing and assembly, and in developing a cadre of professionals with expertise in wind energy design, engineering, planning and management, Mitskovski said.
“If you have that cadre of talent, you will start attracting not only the manufacturers, but the large planning and consulting agencies,” he said. “You need both sides of the coin.”
Kessel said the project could create hundreds of jobs, maybe more.
“The project,” he said, “could make Western New York a center for wind turbine manufacturing.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments