offshore wind: balancing efficiency and accountability
DESCRIPTION
This panel will address whether threats from climate change, mercury emissions and other effects of fossil fuel dependence justify development of offshore wind in select areas of the Great Lakes. What state and federal regulatory schemes currently exist and are they adequate to protect the lakes? How are regulators, developers and environmental groups addressing wind development and environmental protection?TRANSCRIPT
an ISEA idea...2,000 miles to offshore renewable energy
M. Klepinger, October 2011
What’s the Big Idea?
GL community should find 2,000 square miles (2%) to be used for offshore energy
To do this, we should create
~ Inland Seas Energy Compact
OR
~ Inland Seas Energy Authority (ISEA)
Why So Few Prospects?
• Wind resources classified as “excellent” to “superb” by the U.S. Department of Energy
Questions From All Quarters About Great Lakes Wind
Governance questions
Environmental questions
Engineering questions
Price and profitability questions
What is the ISEA Idea?
• Create a new authority for offshore energy management, policy and planning
• Create a development corporation similar to the St Lawrence Seaway (but with triple bottom line)
• Convene leaders to identify which areas need preservation & which areas are best for energy
Why?
• Creates certainty - a more stable 20-year policy environment - and will focus public debate
• Improves our position, gives us a brand, as we seek international investment in clean energy
• Provides space for the scale of the industry (enough to make billion$ investment worthwhile)
Functions of Energy Authority
• Sets 5-yr, 10-yr, 20-yr production goals• Prioritizes research, detailed field investigations• Prepares guidelines for site assessment,
construction, operations, decommissioning• Provides good public venue for federal agencies
(in what is primarily a state leasing decision)
Functions of Energy Authority
• Partners with states to market sites• Considers state nominations of the most
favorable wind resource areas (WRAs)• Issues bonds and distributes revenues• Could sell assets after 20 to 25 years
How?
How do we define “most favorable” areas for offshore wind energy?
Michigan’s Approach
• Governor’s Offshore Wind Council 2009• GLOW identified 24 criteria for policy-making• Used GIS mapping to find the “best” & “worst”• Drafted legislation for how to lease the state’s
“Most Favorable” five hundred square miles
Most Favorable Wind Resource Areas (Michigan WRAs)
SOURCE: Institute for Fisheries Research, UM/MDNR, GLOW Final Report, October 2010.
Sanilac County WRA
Sanilac County WRA
GLOW Council’s Criteria
• Aids to navigation• Buoyed navigation channels• Coastal airports• Military operation areas• Submerged transmission lines• Habitat/biological (5 criteria)• Disposal sites • Harbors/marinas• Large river mouths
• Shoreline (6-mile viewshed)• Shoreline (3-mile productivity) • National park lakeshores• State parks and wilderness • Shipwrecks • State bottomland preserves • Underwater archeological sites • Commercial fishing areas • International and state
boundaries • Shipping lanes
In a Nutshell
• Great Lakes community needs an offshore energy management authority
• Similar to the St Lawrence Seaway – but with a triple bottom line mandate
• Regional policymakers need some quality time to decide on the “best” and “worst” places to take advantage of our world-class winds
• WINGSPREAD has offered to host a group of leaders when we’re ready
Michael Klepinger Inland Seas Energy Alliance [email protected]