A long-running project to build a wind farm in Lake Erie has won approval from the staff of a state board overseeing electric facilities.
The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation has been working on a wind farm for the better part of a decade now. This week, staff of the Ohio Power Siting Board recommended the wind project get the board’s O.K.
There are some conditions: LEEDCo will have to monitor how the wind farm affects populations of birds and bats, which could be killed if they collide with turbine blades.
The $126 million project has to run through a gauntlet of permits and approvals from the state and federal government. This is just one step.
Dave Karpinski with LEEDCo says construction could be happening around 2021.
“These permits are a big thing, and obviously until you have the permits you can’t make any commitments on construction,” Karpinski says. “So once we have those permits in hand, then we’ll be able to really, seriously make some harder commitments.”
Plans call for the turbines to be 8-10 miles northwest of Cleveland.
A public hearing on the project is set for July 19 in the chambers of Cleveland City Council. A hearing before the power siting board is scheduled for August.
