Is There GOLD In That There Lake????

 
From: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117101544636680.xml&coll=2 [1]

Lake Erie wind turbines proposed:
 
Just some excerpts from the article….
“A Cuyahoga County task force on Thursday proposed the Lake Erie Wind Energy Center, featuring up to 10 wind turbines on the lake and a research center on land spurring new businesses and jobs.
 
<snip>
“There are no wind turbines operating on fresh water anywhere in the world. The plan calls for up to 10 wind turbines on the lake as a demonstration project.
 
The 10 turbines would stand some 300 feet above the water and crank out up to 20 megawatts of power. That's enough to light up 6,000 homes.”
 
<snip>
 

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Okay, I will admit that I am a little slow some days….  But a little question has been nagging at the back of my little pea brain for some time on this whole topic, and it seems to have finally made it to the surface….

****$40 mil for a “demonstration project”????****

>>> Drum Roll<<<<<

And, just how big are we talking about the final project being....., if this is "just a demonstration"????

*** disclaimer***

***I don’t profess to be any good at economics, or big numbers for that fact….***

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Okay, I guess I am capable of imagining that I would want to spend say 1/100th of the cost of a project on a “demo”.  So, for a project that is expected to cost $10,000, I might spend $100 to make sure I had a working technology, a viable location, and a service department in my neighborhood....

That might be along the same line of a young teenager spending $200 on a bicycle to get experience commuting, driving/riding in the street, learning some traffic laws, and various other learning experiences before buying “the first car” a few years later for 100 times the cost.

So, where does that leave our “final plans” for wind turbines on the lake, assuming 10 Wind Turbines, 20 Mw of electricity,  and $40 million is the “demo”.

1,000 wind turbines is a lot of wind turbines…..

2,000 Mw is a lot of electricity…..

$4,000,000,000 is a lot of money….

….but what is the value of 2,000 Mw of electricity, for the life of the total 1,000 wind turbine installation – say 20 years plus???

...after all, "they" are making money on the 4 wind turbines in Bowling Green, and "they" are in a lot less wind than is supposed to be out in the lake, according to the 100 meter wind map that I copied above...

Maybe this is why "everyone" is interested in this, and not worrying about ice, birds, maintenance, and all those other things....

Is this the beginning of the great Cleveland Wind "Gold Rush"????