b'SEPTEMBER 26 - OCTOBER 23, 2022PROJECT CARGO BI-ANNUAL17Niche vessel design key to Great Lakes wind power (SAGAcontinued from conductedfortheinterstate page 2) GreatLakesCommissionthe aspokesmanforNewYorkfollowing year projected more By Matt Miller, AJOT StateEnergyResearchandmodest possibilities, anywhere Development Authority, in anfrom 1 to 5GW installed capac-Specialized wind installation vessels pro- According to Kourtoff, the reason for usemail.NYSERDAisonlyity by 2030.vide the backbone to wind farm creation. Butto put so much capability into our barges wasnow conducting a feasibilityTheNYSERDAstudy, theGreatLakesgreatlycomplicatesuseoftobenefitfromfirstmoveradvantage.Tril- studyonGreatLakeswindwhichwillupdateestimates these increasingly sophisticatedand expen- lium, in addition to its highly publicized initialenergy potential. The supplyand expectations, is expected sivepurpose-built vessels.venture, has identified three other wind farmchain [for ocean wind] is read- to be released soon.Limitations posed by the Saint Lawrencesites. The company could lease out these ves- ily leveraged from around theNIMBY-ism, a glacial regu-Seaway are the biggest impediment. Becausesels to other developers as well, Kourtoff said.worldandthewindenergylatoryprocessandpopulist of its locks, the seaway requires ships to have aOur designs were so unique that we havepotential is substantially largerpolitics have combined to com-maximum vessel beam size of 22 meters or 78hadinquiries(viaTheGlostenAssociates)than that of freshwater windpletely derail efforts so far.feet. The latest generation of wind farm instal- from several global companies that have sup- energy.PlansfortheIcebreaker lation vessels are almost three times that.plied many, many offshore wind developmentsWindFarmonLakeErie Bringing open ocean vessels through thearound the world with wind turbines, Kour- a s aGa ofM issed startedtobeformulatedin Seaway is a non-starter, said John Kourtoff,toff wrote in a follow-up email. They, too,o PPortunities 2009, when the city of Cleve-CEO of Toronto-based Trillium Power Windhave run into the issue of how to install in TheYet, a decade ago, lakes- land, two Ohio counties and a Corp., which has been attempting to developGreat Lakes. relatedwindpowerelicitedlocal foundation launched the wind farms on Lake Ontario for almost twoAnother complicating factor for installa- similar talk of immense poten- LakeErieEnergyDevelop-decades. We knew that from the get-go. tion vessels is the Jones Act, which mandatestialandbountifulopportuni- mentCorporationspecifically In2008,asitwasrampingupdevelop- USflagcarriersforoperationsbetweenUSties. A 2011 Conference Boardtodevelopwindpoweron ment efforts, Trillium turned Glosten Associ- ports.ThatappliestoGreatLakesshippingofCanadastudyestimatedthe lake. Three other counties ates Inc., the Seattle-based naval architecturewithin the US as well. That means for windatotalof35GWofpowerandthewindpowerdevel-andengineeringfirm,tocomeupwithtwofarmsinU.S.lakewaters,domestic-madefromwindontheCanadianoper, Oslo-based Fred Olsen separate barge designs. The first was for foun- barges must be used. That will most probablysideofLakeOntarioalone.Renewables,subsequently dation installation. The other was for installinglimit the size of the turbine to about 6MW, orIt set a conservative estimatejoined LEEDCo, which iden-thetowers,nacelles,andblades. Thatbargehalf the power of the newest generation of off- of 2GW of installed capacitytified a site in 2014 and, two would serve as a maintenance vessel as well. shore turbines.in Ontario waters by 2026, ofyearslater,wona$40mil-Glostens designs hinged on the ability toGivenphysicalvesselsizeconstraintswhich1.6GWwasprojectedliongrantfromtheDoEto lock together multiple sections, each of whichof the lock systems getting into and betweento have been up and runningconstruct the wind farm. The wasnarrowenoughtotraversetheSeaway.the Great Lakes, to a large degree, major com- by this year.OhioPowerSitingBoard The vessel, with locked sections, must be asponents for offshore wind could not be lever- IntheUS,somethingapprovedapermitinearly rigid as if it were one.aged for use in the Great Lakes and a separatecalled the Great Lakes Wind2020,althoughtheboard Thedesignfortheinstallationbargesupplychainwouldneedtobedeveloped,EnergyConsortiumcameinitiallyruledthatthetur-included a 110 meters crane, helipad, and crewsaidaspokesmanfortheNewYorkStatetogetherin2012.Composedbinesmustshutdownat quartersforover40workers.KourtoffsaidEnergy Research and Development Authority,of federal and state bodies, it atnightformuchoftheyear he even mandated that jackup legs and otheror NYSERDA, which is in the midst of con- the time estimated total Greatto protect birds and bats. 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