Sep 24 2010
Great Lakes Wind Energy, a renewable energy business based in Youngstown, will form a partnership with Bechtel Corp a projects building company and Cavallo Energy, a private equity company based in Houston, to construct an offshore wind farm on Lake Erie.
The wind farm to be completed in phases over a period of 10 years with an investment of around $100 million will have a total of 200 wind turbines. The newly formed partnership will construct a demo project consisting of five wind turbines in Lake Erie near Cleveland cost.
The partnership has created a new wind management and development company, Great Lakes Ohio Wind for the purpose of completing the offshore lake project. The activities of the new company will be handled by Chris Wisseman, Manager of Grate Lakes Wind Energy and an offshore wind expert from New Jersey. Bechtel one of the partners of the newly formed company will take the responsibility of building the giant base structures that are required for the erection of wind turbines. The other partnering company Cavallo will provide the necessary structures for energy production and transmission of the generated energy. According to Wisseman, all the other activities of the project will be managed by Great Lakes Wind Energy. He added that the company will organize the activities of its partners in addition to coordinating with other external agencies such as General Electric the turbine supplier for the project. According to him the company also has undertaken the responsibility of arranging finance for the project and interacting with nearly 18 government agencies that oversee the project for the purpose.
Gene Ameduri, Great Lakes Wind Energy’s Managing Director, said that he has formed the company to present a wind project proposal to the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp, a not for profit company leading the wind turbine project. He said that he has persuaded Bechtel and Cavallo to join the project with their relevant experience. He concluded saying that he was in the lookout for a team that can build the project as well as finance it and brought the other two companies to form a team and to make a viable proposal for the Lake Erie offshore wind project.