One thing that the Michigan Legislature and/or Executive could do to truly promote renewable energy in Michigan is to pre-permit large areas of the Great Lakes for wind farms. The advantages are legion.

First, endeavoring to establish significant wind farms on land entails the complex and costly matter of land assembly and/or rental of private property for the towers. The bottomlands of the Great Lakes have a single owner: The State of Michigan.

Second, the lack of obstructions to wind in the open waters makes them more attractive than land-based farms. A great deal is known about average wind velocities from hundreds of NOAA bouys throughout the lakes.

Third, shipping lanes run close to shore and large windmills can be spaced and marked so that private boats may navigate between and among them.

Fourth, if shoreline owners who paid $10K per foot on Lake Michigan object to seeing windmills, there is plenty of room over the visual horizon to occupy.

Fifth, tower footings actually form habitat for fish, thus making the windfarm a potentially productive sport fishery similar to the towers that support oil rigs in the Gulf.

Finally, the far offshore reaches of the Lakes can be compared to a desert covered with water – there is little use and low value for an acre of bottomland covered by a depth of water.

Michigan is almost the size of Texas when the bottomlands of the Great Lakes are included. Pre-permitting selected areas of bottomlands would dramatically cut the most significant cost for developing new power generation – the time it takes for regulatory approvals.

Finally, if the governor’s vision of making Michigan a manufacturing mecca for renewable energy sources is to be realized, then taking the proposed action would be a magnet for production facilities to locate here.

What do you think?