Ohio Supreme Court Votes in Favor of Lake Erie Wind Farm

In August the Ohio Supreme Court voted 6-1 in favor of a project to build a wind farm off the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie. The project to build the wind farm is named Icebreaker. It is set to be the first freshwater-bodied wind farm in North America. 

The project is expected to produce around 20.7 megawatts to give power to around 7,000 homes in the Cleveland area and create 500+ jobs, according to Port of Cleveland and the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), the two companies working to construct the wind farm. The project was brought in front of the court shortly after the Ohio Power Siting Board’s decision to sign off on the project allowing it to move forward.

In 2020 two Cleveland residents, W. Susan Dempsey and Robert M. Maloney, came forward and attempted to appeal the board’s decision. They were concerned about the project’s negative effects on Lake Erie and its local bird and bat populations. They feared the wind farm would interfere with nocturnal birds’ migration patterns and lead to numerous bird deaths. Dempsey and Maloney claimed the state had not received enough data to make an informed decision and their concerns were shared by other organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory.

The American Bird Conservancy’s goal with the appeal was to make sure that enough information would be obtained to guarantee the safety of bird species that migrate through Lake Erie according to Lewis Grove, director of wind and energy for the American Bird Conservancy.

“We know that there’s going to be future projects that are going to be done based upon how this one goes,” Grove said “We want to see that process really robust here, for citizens to be involved and for the environmental safeguards to be really given their full due in terms of not impacting their [birds] population.”

One species that the American Bird Conservancy is particularly concerned about is Kirtland’s warbler, a species that is on the endangered species list and nests in Michigan. Its numbers are on the rise but they fear the wind farm may cause problems to the warbler population. 

“There’s about 4000 or so of these birds total left in the world. And it wouldn’t take that many of them dying from wind turbines every year as they pass over the lake to affect that population,” Grove said.

Jade Davis, the vice-president of external affairs for the Port of Cleveland is excited to see this project moving forward.

“We were very glad that we finally got over that legal hurdle with LEEDCo and the state Supreme Court affirming the Ohio Power Siting Board’s decision to issue a certificate of operation to the project,” Davis said.

The project is also a proof of concept for Freshwater wind farms and wind farms in Lake Erie and across the Great Lakes, explained Davis.

“This is a demonstration project, it’s going to prove that the offshore wind is esthetically and environmentally suitable for Lake Erie and also to make sure that its impact on wildlife, its impact on fishing, and all of these other things are negligible and can be negated with proper administration, operation, and maintenance of the project,” Davis said.

The project is estimated to create 500+ jobs for the Cleveland area and have 168 million dollars in economic impact.

With the program being the first freshwater wind farm in North America, this could raise interest for more programs across North America. Davis explained that Ontario and New York are already investigating freshwater wind farms of their own. This could make Ohio a major center for the wind farm industry both on water and on land, according to Davis. 

“We can become a hub for that [windmill construction and maintenance] throughout not just Lake Erie but through our other Great Lakes,” Davis said. “So that is the real opportunity here as far as jobs and economic development is concerned. Then also landside, as far as Northeast Ohio and Ohio Residents, is going to be another opportunity to train a workforce, another opportunity to create the kind of environment that workforce can grow in. Organic local jobs here that we can actually see and benefit from, both from electricity, but also from payroll.”

 

With the court’s decision, LEEDCo and the Cleveland Port plan to move forward with finding a consumer to buy parts for the project. The project gets money when a group or town offers to buy power from the windfarm. A third of the project has already been partially funded by the Port of Cleveland. LEEDCo must prove itself and market out the other two-thirds of the power. Construction is not yet scheduled due to LEEDCo still needing to obtain proper funding

“We can say that we are actively working and talking to large power consumers who are interested in LEEDCo power for various reasons,” said Davis. “There are consumers, residential customers, who are asking for other options with procuring power. They’re using it to light and heat their homes and cool their homes to be from renewable resources. So we are talking to all those sectors and those various individuals and large stakeholder groups, and we hope that those conversations will finalize the rest of this.” 

Several conservation groups still intend to fight the decision. The American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory recently submitted an appeal to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to try to make sure the project is monitored closely and is safe for the local bird populations as well as provides clean energy.

“Climate change is going to impact the bird population just like it’s going to impact the human population,” Grove said. “We absolutely support an energy transition, we recognize that is a fundamental need for birds and humans alike; but we just want to see that in a deliberate and thoughtful way, so that we’re not going to look back in 50 years and wonder why we made the mistakes we made.”