GE and Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) have announced a long-term partnership beginning with the development of the first fresh water offshore wind farm in the US and involving a broad range of other initiatives.
Under the new partnership GE will provide direct-drive wind turbines to
LEEDCo’s 20MW offshore wind project in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie. To
kick off the collaboration with LEEDCo, GE has committed to providing
offshore wind turbines and maintenance services for an initial 20MW wind
farm. Upon its completion, targeted for late 2012, this project would
be located off the shores of Lake Erie, near Cleveland, Ohio. This would
be followed by subsequent projects with a long-term goal of 1,000MW in
the Ohio waters of Lake Erie by 2020. In addition to collaborating on
the initial project, GE and LEEDCo will create a strategic plan to
identify opportunities for cost reduction to make offshore wind energy
in the Great Lakes economically viable.
