Offshore wind farms built on Lake Erie would be able to access about 3GW of grid-connected substation capacity from retired coal plants on the lake’s shores, avoiding the need to build expensive infrastructure and long transmission lines, Recharge has learned.
Although onshore wind is still cheaper than offshore, transmission costs from projects in some Midwestern states, such as Oklahoma, can actually exceed that of the power-purchase agreement (PPA), explains Lorry Wagner, president of Lake Erie Energy Development Corp (LEEDCo), which is developing what is expected to become the first offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes, the 20.7MW
