The coming year might tell that tale: A German wind energy consultant is expected to sign a $900,000 contract with Cuyahoga County commissioners Jan. 3 to help sort out how practical the proposal really is.

"The next year is crucial - that's when we'll know if this will work for us or not," said county Prosecutor Bill Mason, head of a local task force pushing the proposal. "But we also understand that there's always going to be some skepticism, so we want to give the public a realistic view they can support."

Wind-power skeptics have questioned whether anchoring turbines in fresh water would be particularly difficult because of Lake Erie's winter ice. Some environmentalists have decried siting wind turbines in migratory bird lanes.

The German company Juwi International, aided by local firm DLZ Ohio Inc. and a second German firm, is expected to look at those issues as well as potential money sources and a business structure for the project.

The task force's vision is for five to 10 turbines in Lake Erie by 2010. An array that size would generate only enough power for 6,000 homes and, as the first turbines in the world to be built in fresh water, could cost $60 million to develop.

The timing seems favorable.

Mayor Frank Jackson said in late November that he wants advanced and renewable energy sources - including wind power - to represent 25 percent or more of the city-owned electric utility's power supply by 2025.

Mason and others have said building turbines here would be likely to spin off research and investment. And some experts have projected that wind energy could be a $750 billion a year industry within a decade.

"That's real money," Mason said. "We just want a piece of it."