OPSB Schedules Icebreaker Offshore Wind Farm Meeting

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) is holding a second local hearing about Icebreaker Windpower’s proposed offshore wind farm in Lake Erie in Cleveland, US, on 19 July.

According to OPSB, the hearing will allow the public to express their views about Icebreaker Windpower’s application to construct the wind farm.

The event will take place at the Cleveland City Hall at 6 p.m. local time.

Icebreaker Windpower proposes to construct six MHI Vestas wind turbines some 8 to 10 miles offshore Cleveland. The turbines proposed have a nameplate capacity rating of 3.45MW, resulting in a combined generating capacity of up to 20.7MW.

The project would include an approximately 12-mile long submerged electric transmission line to transmit the electricity generated by the turbines to Cleveland Public Power’s onshore Lake Road Substation.

The adjudicatory hearing in this proceeding is scheduled for 6 August at 10 a.m. local time at the offices of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The hearing was previously scheduled for 17 November 2017, but was postponed in response to a request from OPSB staff to suspend the procedural schedule in order to allow additional time to obtain more information from Icebreaker Windpower on the pre- and post-construction radar technology monitoring protocol selected for use at the project site for determining project impacts.

The project was originally scheduled to enter the construction phase in May and to be completed by October 2018, while the commissioning was expected in November 2018.

The original developer of the Icebreaker project was the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo). In 2016, LEEDCo partnered with Norway’s Fred. Olsen Renewables (FOR), who established FORUSA and Icebreaker Windpower to be the owner, developer, and operator of the offshore wind farm.