an ISEA idea...2,000 miles to offshore renewable energy

M. Klepinger, October 2011

What’s the Big Idea?

GL community should find 2,000 square miles (2%) to be used for offshore energy

To do this, we should create

~ Inland Seas Energy Compact

OR

~ Inland Seas Energy Authority (ISEA)

Why So Few Prospects?

• Wind resources classified as “excellent” to “superb” by the U.S. Department of Energy

Questions From All Quarters About Great Lakes Wind

Governance questions

Environmental questions

Engineering questions

Price and profitability questions

What is the ISEA Idea?

• Create a new authority for offshore energy management, policy and planning

• Create a development corporation similar to the St Lawrence Seaway (but with triple bottom line)

• Convene leaders to identify which areas need preservation & which areas are best for energy

Why?

• Creates certainty - a more stable 20-year policy environment - and will focus public debate

• Improves our position, gives us a brand, as we seek international investment in clean energy

• Provides space for the scale of the industry (enough to make billion$ investment worthwhile)

Functions of Energy Authority

• Sets 5-yr, 10-yr, 20-yr production goals• Prioritizes research, detailed field investigations• Prepares guidelines for site assessment,

construction, operations, decommissioning• Provides good public venue for federal agencies

(in what is primarily a state leasing decision)

Functions of Energy Authority

• Partners with states to market sites• Considers state nominations of the most

favorable wind resource areas (WRAs)• Issues bonds and distributes revenues• Could sell assets after 20 to 25 years

How?

How do we define “most favorable” areas for offshore wind energy?

Michigan’s Approach

• Governor’s Offshore Wind Council 2009• GLOW identified 24 criteria for policy-making• Used GIS mapping to find the “best” & “worst”• Drafted legislation for how to lease the state’s

“Most Favorable” five hundred square miles

Most Favorable Wind Resource Areas (Michigan WRAs)

SOURCE: Institute for Fisheries Research, UM/MDNR, GLOW Final Report, October 2010.

Sanilac County WRA

Sanilac County WRA

GLOW Council’s Criteria

• Aids to navigation• Buoyed navigation channels• Coastal airports• Military operation areas• Submerged transmission lines• Habitat/biological (5 criteria)• Disposal sites • Harbors/marinas• Large river mouths

• Shoreline (6-mile viewshed)• Shoreline (3-mile productivity) • National park lakeshores• State parks and wilderness • Shipwrecks • State bottomland preserves • Underwater archeological sites • Commercial fishing areas • International and state

boundaries • Shipping lanes

In a Nutshell

• Great Lakes community needs an offshore energy management authority

• Similar to the St Lawrence Seaway – but with a triple bottom line mandate

• Regional policymakers need some quality time to decide on the “best” and “worst” places to take advantage of our world-class winds

• WINGSPREAD has offered to host a group of leaders when we’re ready

Michael Klepinger Inland Seas Energy Alliance mikinetics@gmail.com517.676.9858