GVSU Lake Michigan wind energy test project gets $1.4 million federal grant

Mon, Oct 19, 2009    to del.icio.us

MUSKEGON — Grand Valley State University's efforts to launch a wind turbine testing project on Lake Michigan will receive a $1.4 million federal grant.

The school's Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, based in Muskegon, is planning to put a turbine on a floating platform to test how it works on the Great Lakes. Researchers hope to have the platform installed by fall 2010.

Arn Boezaart, the center's interim director, said in the center's fall 2009 newsletter, The MAREC Minute, that the grant was obtained through the work of U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland.

"(W)e need to explore opportunities for renewable and alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen for the future," Hoekstra explained on his Web site in a call for new federal energy policy. "Renewable energy will play a larger role in our national energy mix in coming years."

The federal government's involvement has led the GVSU center to move the turbine testing project from an inland lake to Lake Michigan, according to Boezaart.

"The original project included a demonstration wind turbine in Muskegon Lake," Boezaart said. "Changes in federal match requirements and evolving wind generation technology have modified the project's design since it was first proposed in 2007."

Boezaart said a preliminary review of available platform and other technology needed for the project is currently under way.

In August, MAREC hosted a 12-member delegation of Michigan congressional offices, including Hoekstra's, aimed at educating them on the use of traditional and renewable energy from a West Michigan perspective. They visited a Ravenna dairy farm's biodigester plant, Consumer Energy's B.C. Cobb coal-fire power plant in Muskegon and a wind farm in Missaukee County.

"GVSU is an important resource in bringing public and private interests together to help advance the development of renewable energy technology throughout the Lakeshore region," GVSU Vice President for University Relations Matt McLogan said in a statement.

On the Net:

www.gvsu.edu/marec

The Associated Press contributed to this report.