Proposed Lake Erie wind farm project halted
After years of battles over permits and environmental concerns, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. (LEEDCo), announced it was pausing efforts to construct a freshwater wind farm in Lake Erie, citing delays and rising costs.
The Icebreaker Wind project was supposed to be the first freshwater wind farm in North America.
As reported previously in The Labor Citizen, Icebreaker was a pilot program to see if turbines could operate in Lake Erie. The project called for the construction of six wind turbines located eight to 10 miles off the Cleveland shore.
However, obstacles, including a lawsuit, were too much for LEEDCo to overcome.
“Given the set of circumstances right now, we don’t have a way to push things forward unless something changes,” Will Friedman, LEEDCo Acting President and CEO, and President of the Cuyahoga County Port Authority, told The Plain Dealer.
On Dec. 8, LEEDCo announced that both they and the U.S. Department of Energy were mutually terminating a $50 million grant, according to multiple reports. The grant was being terminated because LEEDCo was unable to meet grant performance milestones.
The $37 million left from the grant was supposed help fund construction.
IBEW Local 38 Business Manager Dan Gallagher called the news a great disappointment.
“Local 38 had been involved with this project from its inception,” he said. “We worked with LEEDCO and city and government officials to help them obtain permitting, financial and legal approvals to bring the project to fruition.”
The announcement will eliminate about 500 construction jobs – the bulk coming fromthree IBEW Locals – 38, 39 and 71.
“Anytime projects do not move forward, it affects all the trades,” said Gallagher. “The most disappointing aspect of the wind farm not moving forward is what it would have done for the future of Cleveland. … A first-of-a-kind freshwater wind farm would have put Cleveland at the epicenter of wind generation manufacturing and made it a leader in renewable energies. I guess the flight plan for a couple of birds is more important than making Cleveland a trailblazer in something.
“When narrow-minded groups with no vision of the future or understanding of the potential a project like Icebreaker could have meant to Northeast Ohio fight the development, it does not come as a surprise.”
As late as 2022, however, there was significant hope that a Project Labor Agreement would be signed, and that construction would soon begin.
The concept for Icebreaker originated around 2009 but gained momentum when the $50 million DOE grant was secured in 2016. Then, opponents began to intervene.
Organizations such as the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, Lake Erie Foundation, American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory came out in opposition.
In 2020, the Ohio Power Sitting Board granted Icebreaker a permit with a provision that prevented the turbines from operating at night between March 1 and Nov. 1 to limit the risk to birds and bats.
But two Bratenahl residents filed a lawsuit claiming the OPSB did not obtain enough information about the risk to birds and bats to render its decision. In an August 2022 ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court sided with LEEDCo and ruled construction could begin.
Describing the numerous delays as detrimental, Friedman said construction would not start until LEEDCo found a buyer for about two-thirds of the electricity the project was expected to generate. The City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County had agreed to purchase the other third.
Friedman also cited rising interest rates and higher costs for materials and construction as other reasons to halt the project.