State supreme court ruling puts US Great Lake Icebreaker wind array's oars back in water
Judge's decision caps long-running litigation process for pioneering 20.7MW pilot off Ohio and could set precedent for future projects in freshwater offshore play
The presiding judge, justice Jennifer Brunner, ruled the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB), the state regulator of energy projects, had appropriately granted the 20.7MW pilot project permits in 2020, including its certificates of environmental compatibility and public need.
The ruling on Icebreaker, being developed by a consortium including the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), a non-profit public-private venture, along with Norway’s Fred Olsen Renewables, and the US Department of Energy (DOE), clears the way for the pioneering project to move forward with its planned installation of six 3.45MW Vestas turbines on hybrid suction bucket-monopile foundations 10 miles (16km) off Cleveland.