GE, Cleveland Leaders Strike Deal to Spur Development of Offshore Wind Turbine Market in Lake Erie

“CLEVELAND, Ohio — The General Electric Co. dominates the country’s wind turbine market on land.

Local leaders want to help GE realize similar success on the water — an effort that could employ thousands of Ohioans.

Thus was born the unique agreement, struck in late May, under which GE and a regional development corporation aspire to erect hundreds of turbines in Lake Erie in the next decade, while building an offshore wind industry here.

The first big step in their mutual goal: a $100 million plan to locate five massive wind turbines eight miles off Cleveland’s shore…

The GE – LEEDCo agreement culminates a three-year search by the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force to find a turbine maker willing to go beyond just selling the multimillion-dollar machines.

“It’s not about finding a turbine supplier,” said Wagner of LEEDCo, which spun out of the public-private task force. “It’s about finding a partner. There is no [offshore wind] industry and we’re looking to build it over the next 10 years.”

There are no wind turbines in North American waters, much less the Great Lakes. But growth of hundreds of megawatts a year is expected by 2020.

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