LANSING – Michigan has joined four other Great Lakes states and federal regulatory agencies in a compact designed to outline the requirements for and promote offshore wind energy research in the lakes, Governor Rick Snyder announced Friday.
The compact, which includes Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania as well as federal agencies that have regulatory oversight of the Great Lakes, calls on the participants to gather any regulations and permitting processes they currently have that would affect placing wind turbines in the lakes. The agreement does not require development of any new regulations.
Snyder said the key effort in the state now is development of new technology to bring down the cost of placing turbines in the lakes.
“The technical and cost barriers to offshore wind are still very significant,” he said. “We need the research efforts to bear more fruit before we redesign the regulatory framework we have in place. Our current system protects Michigan’s interests at this time.”
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