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By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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GVSU, along with a host of partners, launched a government-funded research buoy in Lake Michigan to study the offshore wind potential and gather real-time data about wind conditions over the lakes. COURTESY PHOTO

MUSKEGON — If Michigan is ever to tap into the vast wind resources over Lake Michigan, it will need data to convince developers to make the hefty investment.

Bobbing four miles off the coast of Lake Michigan is an advanced research buoy, one of three in the world. It’s an eight-ton, 20-by-10-foot, boat-shaped structure measuring wind and serving as a platform for wildlife research.

The wind research conducted over eight weeks will prove whether there is sufficient wind power to support commercial wind power offshore. The buoy is a proof of concept of new technology capable of measuring wind speeds up to 150 meters above the surface of the water. Researchers hope the project will be a model that researchers use to measure offshore wind elsewhere, said Arn Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University.

“Previous research into wind resources has come from modeling, satellite measurement from 100 miles above, and shore-based wind towers,” Boezaart said. “We are looking for bankable data. Right now, the only bankable data is anenometer data.”

The buoy utilizes laser pulse technology to measure wind speeds while underway over long periods on the water, the first time such data has been collected. The project had been identified by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Great Lakes Wind Council as key to determining the feasibility of offshore wind on Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Energy offered $1.4 million in federal grants for the project, which relied on a $1.33 million match from the state of Michigan.

The objective of the offshore wind assessment is to gain a better understanding of the potential of offshore wind energy, as well the potential impact of wind power generation on wildlife in the region. The buoy will remain on the lake until mid-December, when it will be retrieved and put into winter storage to download detailed data collected in the initial test period, said Boezaart.

“The federal government would like us to keep it out there year-round for data collection,” he said. “Right now, we feel it’s too risky a venture given the technology is untested in the field. Our fear is that it could get really beat up out there.”

Next spring researchers hope to move the buoy to middle of Lake Michigan in a shallow area known as the Lake Michigan Plateau. The future of the project is in question, as funding for the project at the state level fell under the cost-cutting knife in Gov. Rick Snyder’s current budget.

The project is a partnership between GVSU, the University of Michigan, the Department of Energy and Michigan State University Extension’s Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Brian Klatt, director of the Natural Features Inventory, said the buoy has been outfitted with acoustic and ultrasonic sensors to determine the path of birds and bats over the lake.

“Wind farms have potential to and are known to result in mortality for birds and bats. Our role is to get a better handle on what exactly the presence is of birds and bats” at the height of commercial offshore wind towers, said Klatt. “We’re not advocates for wind energy. We provide scientific, unbiased information for decision makers that can be used in their decision-making process.”

Boezart said that the research partners are working with the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Snyder administration to shore up the funding question heading into next year’s research season.

“Our hope is by the end of January that we will have this figured out. I am confident there will be a solution so we can conduct a full season of gathering data,” Boezaart said. “The preliminary data are useful, but data are collected at 1-second intervals, with only 10-minute averages being sent in. We have not done … the deep analysis yet, as some data doesn’t come in until the buoy is pulled out of the water.”

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• arn boezaart
• department of energy
• lake michigan
• muskegon