Wind Power News: Michigan
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Mason County Board wants meeting with Oceana County Board to discuss offshore wind farm
LUDINGTON — The Mason County Board of Commissioners concluded Tuesday that a decision on a proposed offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan should be made after a joint meeting with the Oceana County Board.
Chairman Michael Schneider reminded fellow board members that this is the first written and signed proposal they’ve had from Minnesota-based Scandia Wind LLC and Havgul Clean Energy AS of Norway.
The proposal calls for 100 wind turbines to be installed four miles off the coast of Mason and . . .
Wind farm plan sliced in half
Holding to its word, Scandia Wind LLC has cut in half its proposal for an offshore wind farm in Lake Michigan.
In its newest proposal released Tuesday night, Scandia proposes to reduce the wind farm from 1,000 megawatts to 500 megawatts. It’s also proposing to reduce the area from 100 square miles to 50 square miles. The minimum offshore distance would be four miles. The newest proposal also shows the southern most end due west of Pentwater harbor.
The newest proposal will . . .
Wind ordinance amendments reviewed
BAD AXE — Huron County Planning Commission members on Wednesday reviewed a cyclone of ordinance amendments and voted to tentatively schedule a public hearing to garner input on proposed revisions to the county’s wind ordinance.
The hearing will take place April 7, provided the Huron County Wind Energy Subcommittee agrees with the recommended amendments to the county’s overlay wind ordinance.
A highlight of some of the proposed ordinance amendments are listed in the sidebar to this story. A complete version of ordinance . . .
Noise study fails to quiet some concerns
BAD AXE — There was no dead air in the packed Huron County Circuit Court Room Wednesday as local residents and officials heard a presentation regarding findings from the Michigan Wind I noise study.
During the Huron County Planning Commission’s Feb. 3 meeting, John Deere Wind Energy officials presented the findings from the sound study, which found while the majority of the Michigan Wind I development near Ubly is in compliance, three sites measured exceeded the noise limit set in the . . .
State board’s advice on wind farm skirts distance rules
WEST MICHIGAN — A governor-appointed advisory panel has issued its recommended state rules and regulations for offshore wind developments in the Great Lakes, stopping short of a stand on how far the turbines should remain from shore.
The minimum-distance issue has been a point of contention for opponents of offshore wind farms, some of whom say turbines will spoil the view.
The recommendations and input from the Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council are intended as a starting point for the Michigan Legislature, . . .
No nod for Lake Twp wind plan
BAD AXE — During its review of the proposed Lake Township wind zoning ordinance Wednesday evening, the Huron County Planning Commission provided little comment, only to say the draft does not concur with the county’s zoning plans/ordinance.
The draft ordinance was prepared by the previous Lake Township Planning Commission, and unveiled during a planning board meeting in April 2009.
Following that meeting, there was a public hearing in June 2009 where some residents expressed support for the planning board’s wind ordinance draft, . . .
Revised offshore wind farm proposal goes to Oceana, Mason county boards
WEST MICHIGAN — As expected, Scandia Wind Offshore has cut its wind farm proposal for Lake Michigan in half and asked the Mason and Oceana county boards to weigh in on the revised plan by Sept. 1.
The new plan reduces the Aegir Wind Farm Project from 1,000 megawatts to 500 megawatts, and or from up to 200 wind turbines to 100 turbines. It also removes the southern portion of the project south of Pentwater to the Silver Lake State Park.
Scandia . . .
Wind farm scaled back; Sept. 1 deadline for local decision
The size of the wind farm proposed for Lake Michigan off an area south of Ludington shrunk by half in a proposal released Tuesday evening.
Developers submitted the smaller-scale plan and officially requested the Mason and Oceana county boards to act by Sept. 1.
Developers have also:
• pushed the site out to a distance of 4 miles from shore
• set a compensation package for county government if it supports the plans
• announced they need only one county government to support the proposal
The . . .
Wind farm on public’s mind
State Rep. Dan Scripps’ monthly coffee session in Ludington had a distinctive March flavor to it Monday. Much of the discussion with the public that overflowed a side room at House of Flavors dealt with the wind, or wind farms, more precisely.
The Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council released its proposed final draft of guidelines for the legislature to consider late Monday afternoon, and he hadn’t yet seen the language.
He did say he would push for a permitting process that includes . . .
Wind farm in the Great Lakes? Big potential meets big opposition
Pentwater, Mich.
Halfway up Lake Michigan’s eastern shore, wooded bluffs rise next to dunes, ice-fringed winter beaches, and steel-gray water stretching as far as the eye can see.
Pentwater, a resort town whose year-round residents number fewer than 1,000, sits in the middle of some of the most prized lakefront in the region. So when a Norwegian-American company recently proposed putting up as many as 200 wind turbines in the water, many residents were appalled.
“People are very up in arms about this,” . . .
