With legislative recommendations officially proposed by the Great Lakes Wind Council, the Lake Michigan P.O.W.E.R. Coalition is hoping the state legislature will improve on recommendations to establish a state process to better protect the Great Lakes and local interests. The coalition also responded to the March 2 proposal by Scandia Wind LLC to reduce the size of its Lake Michigan wind farm.

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 MPSC on Wednesday designated the Thumb area as a primary wind energy zone. The zone consists of parts of Bay, Huron, Saginaw, Sanilac and Tuscola Counties. This area was as Region 4 by the Michigan Wind Energy Resource Zone Board in an Oct. 15, 2009 final report. Per state law, the Wind Energy Resource Zone Board was created to identify areas within the state that have the most potential for wind energy development.

A university intends to measure Lake Michigan's potential for offshore wind power with a $1.4 million federal grant. ..."We are not putting wind turbines out there," said Arn Boezaart, interim director of the university's Alternative and Renewable Energy Center. "Funding has not allowed for that to happen. We are developing an offshore project to develop wind data on Lake Michigan, as well as other research information on top of that."

About 60 people took time out of their day Monday to hear a presentation and give comments to the state's Wind Energy Resource Zone Board. ...One thing Walter stressed over and over again throughout the hearing was that people shouldn't focus on individual properties included or excluded in the report. The board's charge was to identify on a "macro" scale where the best potential wind and available land coincide. It eliminated sensitive areas, areas around airports, assumed a setback of one mile for Great Lakes shorelines

The city of Grand Rapids has advised Grand Haven Township officials it may ultimately seek permits to erect large wind turbines at the city-owned Lake Michigan Filtration Plant on the shoreline. ..."We've got what we think is enough land there to create some isolation from the homes along the lakeshore, and still be able to capture the lake winds that blow strongly through that area," said Heartwell.

As Michigan seeks to close its wind power gap with neighboring states, it is also approaching a formidable political hurdle. Is the state ready to accept offshore wind turbines in waters prized by boaters and wealthy lakeshore property owners alike? ... The Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council is recommending amending Public Act 325 to allow offshore waters to be included in the public trust. That would give the state authority to override local opposition.

The proposal discussed Monday calls for 30 percent of the state's power to come from sources such as wind and solar by 2025. It would build upon a state law adopted last year that requires 10 percent of the state's power to come from renewable sources by 2015.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm took to a conference stage this past week to sell a national audience on her vision of a green Michigan - a state whose natural resources, work force and empty factories can attract alternative energy jobs. ...Energy experts and executives at the same conference say it's a green gamble for Michigan or any state to take, and time is not on their side. They argue the federal government is creating unrealistic expectations.

"I'd like to see us not charge people extra just to do green things," said Carruthers, who's also a city commissioner. "We're becoming more sustainable and more green in energy production at Light & Power, so let's just have everybody pay the same rate and do progressive things." The Light & Power board this week canceled the special rate program. But its demise won't mean higher rates for all customers, utility officials said. ...Ten commercial businesses and 73 residences paid green rates, generating about $6,500 a year.

The windswept Great Lakes could play host to an industry some believe could help revive Michigan's comatose economy and fulfill state and national mandates for cleaner, renewable energy. ...Nothing's imminent, but state and federal environmental regulators are preparing for the possibility that utility developers may want to harness wind power from Lake Michigan and the other big lakes.

In her State of the State speech, Gov. Jennifer Granholm outlined a restructuring of Michigan's energy infrastructure that aims to meet this industrial state's future energy needs with wind power. The plan is radical but hardly new. The governor's policy closely parallels the failed experiment of Denmark -- a similar peninsular water state that has invested billions of dollars in wind generation during the last 25 years. ...it is crucial that the state understand the lessons of Denmark and the very real limitations of wind power.

Imagine sections of the Great Lakes dotted with rows of gleaming, 12-story turbines, blades whirring in the stiff breeze as they generate electricity for homes and businesses onshore. It's only an idea - for now. But government regulators are bracing for an expected wave of proposals for offshore power generation in a region that never seems to run short of wind. Despite its allure as a plentiful source of clean energy, they say, offshore wind power could affect the aquatic environment and commerce.

"I'm pleased that the governor was finally able to sign it [renewable portfolio standard] ... it's a critical beginning for our state," Mahawili said ...But the chemical engineer did some quick mathematical calculations. This Great Lakes wind dream is not going to be easy to achieve and it certainly won't be cheap. Under current electricity pricing in the state and the current rules of the Michigan Public Service Commission, a kilowatt produced by wind turbines on Lake Michigan costs about four and a half times more than energy from a modern coal-fired plant, the researcher and inventor said.

Local officials are anything but happy with legislation they believe will pre-empt local government control of wind development systems. The legislation is Senate Bill 213 — which is the renewable energy package that’s been one of the most talked-about issues/pieces of legislation needing to be passed in Lansing. ...there never was an intent to pre-empt local governments, said Rep. Jeff Mayes (D-Bay City), who serves as vice chair of the House Committee on Energy and Technology, and also is the House’s leading negotiator for renewable portfolio standard and energy efficiency.

Lawmakers may be close to finishing up a state energy plan, but that's not stopping critics from going after details of a requirement in the bills to use more renewable energy. Although making Michigan less reliant on traditional sources of electricity is seen as a laudable goal, the timeline and price tag of the new renewable requirements are causing disagreements. Critics say the bipartisan plan being negotiated is "unforgivably expensive." They say they wonder why customers would be charged more up front before seeing extra green power. ..."Too little information on the cost of these bills is being made available to lawmakers," he said.

Saying it's only fair, Michigan lawmakers plan to raise residential electricity bills and drop business rates so all customers are charged the true cost of their power. But when it comes to figuring out who should pay what for new renewable energy requirements, the playing field wouldn't be even. Though residents account for one-third of Detroit Edison's electric sales, they would contribute nearly two-thirds of what Michigan's largest utility could collect from customers for wind and other sources of alternative power under bills that have passed the House and Senate.

Whenever the Senate energy committee in Lansing meets, the place is packed. Utilities, customers supporting "green" and renewable energy legislation, entrepreneurs promoting alternative energy, and people of every stripe in between jam the meeting room. Everyone is keenly interested in finding out what the Senate plans to do, but if anyone knows anything, they're not saying a word.

As the nation continues to look toward cleaner and more renewable energy sources to fuel electricity, wind energy is becoming a more viable option, and recent data suggests that Northern Michigan’s hilly terrain and proximity to the Great Lakes make it an ideal area to harvest this inextinguishable source of power. ...“The common lifestyle people only think about their energy source when they pay their bill once a month, and if their power ever goes out,” he said. “More expensive energy will get people to conserve more, and use power more wisely. We can still live a good life this way.” Yet, wind energy is not without its detractors — some residents complain of the low hum produced by the blades.

"Offshore (wind turbine sites) can be a can of worms," said Dickens, who is part of the Michigan wind outreach team from the Michigan Energy Office. "We don't have to go there yet. There are a lot of inland areas that we can use for wind development." Dickens might not want to "go there," but there are plenty of people considering the huge potential for wind turbine development on Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes. ...From an environmental standpoint, a lot more study is needed, according to Alan Steinman, director of the GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon. He suggests looking at the affects of such off-shore wind farms on birds and fish.