Harald Dirdal, a project manager for Havgul Clean Energy, above, gives his presentation for a proposed wind farm in Lake Michigan, stretching from Ludington to Silver Lake, Monday evening, Jan. 18 to a packed Shelby High School Auditorium.

Scandia Wind and its partner Havgul Clean Energy of Norway made the second of their public presentations to explain their plans to construct a $3 billion to $4 billion wind farm between 1.4 and 3.7 miles off the Oceana and Mason county shorelines. The third of three presentations was Tuesday at Peterson Auditorium in Ludington.

Developers didn’t have answers to many of the questions presented, saying that information will become available as more studies and research are completed. They said they have less than $10 million to take them through the leasing and research phase of the project.

“I think that they handled themselves well,” said Ron Helman of Gun Lake and Pentwater.

Helman said he had questions about ice floes running into the 100-200 proposed wind turbine towers. He said it appears Scandia Wind hasn’t gotten very far into the project by the amount of research it needs to complete. Helman said he thinks the overall populous is against the project.

Ryan Mueller of Allendale agreed more information needs to be presented. The fiber-optic cable installer said his family owns property in the Silver Lake area, and he’d prefer towers be built further out into the lake. Mueller said he thinks wind farms are beneficial, but any offshore project like this needs to be out of sight.

“Then you’d sell it to these people in a second,” Mueller said.

Interested people not only filled the 590-seat Shelby auditorium, but many stood in doorways outside to hear the presentation. There were significantly fewer people at the Tuesday presentation in Ludington.

The often passionate Shelby discussion sometimes had the feel of a political debate, and several people said they had traveled great distances to hear the presentation. In addition to questions, many people read prepared statements based on research they completed while others said they don’t want this project to be the company’s guinea pig.

Scandia CEO Steve Warner said there were three groups of people attending the meeting — those against it, those for it, and those who are undecided. Those against created the loudest applause.

“It is not a project yet, so we want to be very open and transparent,” Warner said.

“What is important to hear with these kinds of projects is all opinions,” project Manager Harald Dirdal said. “If the thumb is down, we will not move forward.”

The biggest challenges facing the Scandia project is water depths and the nearly 90-year-old Jones Act. Dirdal said technology developed in Norway could be used for tower bases, but Norwegian engineers would need to be brought in and local staff trained to build them.

“You build it and drop it in the sea as you build it,” Dirdal said.

The Jones Act promotes US labor and equipment be used when working in US waters. Dirdal said the way to get around the act would be to assemble the base and towers in shallow water then tug the units to their locations before setting them.

Dirdal said there would be two million man hours of labor for foundations. Construction jobs have been estimated in the thousands with maintenance jobs in the hundreds once the project is completed.

Most the information was similar to the presentation Scandia officials made at their first public unveiling at West Shore Community College Dec. 15. Dirdal said they selected the Mason-Oceana location because of its proximity to the electrical grid through Consumers Energy’s Ludington Pumped Storage Facility. They also looked at connecting to the grid at a location near Holland, but Dirdal said that location was not favorable. From a technical standpoint, there is no better location in the nation, he said.

“This is, from a grid point of view, an ideal situation,” Dirdal said.

Because of its electrical grid, Gary, Ind. also would have been an ideal location, he said, but it doesn’t have the wind.

The proposed location for the wind farm falls into conditional and most favored locations in the water as identified by the Great Lakes Wind Council appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last year. In its Sept. 1, 2009 report, the council recommends wind farms be a minimum of six miles offshore, but Dirdal said the council hasn’t set an actual distance, and the six mile distance is the maximum recommendation. Anything within six miles needs local support, he said.

Dirdal said it’s technically possible to move the wind farm farther offshore, but that increases construction costs, and he doubted anyone would buy the electricity due to the higher cost. He also balked at the suggestion that Scandia build its own pumped storage facility and wind farm elsewhere, saying another pumped storage facility wouldn’t produce any energy.

In response to a question, Dirdal said climate change is the No. 1 driver behind renewable wind energy. He also said there’s a push at the state level for offshore wind turbine development. He reviewed what it would take for the state to attract the wind turbine industry, saying existing industries would have to be trained to convert and that suitable sites for wind farms with sufficient transmission capacity would have to be located.

Turbine life expectancy and who would be responsible for removing the towers once the service life has expired were other concerns raised. Dirdal said the 10 megawatt generators they are considering can last up to 30 years, but the average life for smaller generators is about 20 years without a mid-life upgrade. He expects the state will include some guarantees for tower removal as it develops legislation for offshore wind farms.

Tower lights were another concern. Warner said lights fall under Federal Aviation Administration jurisdiction, but the FAA will need to know tower height and locations. Lights on the lower end of the towers will have to meet US Coast Guard and Army Corp of Engineer requirements. Any use of fog horns would have to be studied.

The developers also were questioned about financial incentives. Warner said there are basically three:

• Production credits for 2 cents per kilowatt hour

• Investment tax credits

• A 30 percent grant when the wind farm becomes commissioned and operational.

They admitted if it weren’t for financial incentives they might leave.

Not all attending the Shelby meeting were opposed to the project. One woman appreciated the fact developers were considering such a project for West Michigan that, she said, would update other aging facilities. She also was appreciative for developers selecting an area where people are struggling financially. She asked if the project could be moved south to Muskegon County where developers might face less opposition.

“We have no other plans to move it right now,” Dirdal said.

While the meeting at Peterson Auditorium in Ludington had plenty of opposition present, many others were more objective, saying they want to learn more information before forming an opinion. Mason County Commissioner Bob Erickson suggested a committee be formed to review a proposal and make a recommendation to the public.

Erickson said manufacturing is important to the area, and he envisioned a manufacturing facility on Pere Marquette Lake that would employ hundreds of people in the wind turbine industry. Erickson also said he could see that facility manufacturing wind turbine equipment for other Great Lakes wind turbine projects.

The next step is for the developers to find out what kind of local support there is for the project through the respective counties’ elected officials. How the two counties will determine that support wasn’t the developers place to say. Dirdal said the counties could chose to have a referendum vote, or they could make the decision in some other manner.

Warner has previously said he wants to apply for a lease to the state in the first quarter of this year, and he wants the counties to partner with them on the application.

With local support, the developers expect it would take another three years to complete environmental and non-environmental studies, permit applications and wind measurements. Financing commercial agreements are not expected until early 2015 when construction also is estimated to start. It would be another five years before the generating plant would be commissioned.

“I hope I have explained to you this is a very long road and there will be no rushed decisions,” Dirdal said.

The proposed location for the wind farm falls into conditional and most favored locations in the water as identified by the Great Lakes Wind Council appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last year. In its Sept. 1, 2009 report, the council recommends wind farms be a minimum of six miles offshore, but Dirdal said the council hasn’t set an actual distance, and the six mile distance is the maximum recommendation. Anything within six miles needs local support, he said.

Dirdal said it’s technically possible to move the wind farm farther offshore, but that increases construction costs, and he doubted anyone would buy the electricity due to the higher cost. He also balked at the suggestion that Scandia build its own pumped storage facility and wind farm elsewhere, saying another pumped storage facility wouldn’t produce any energy.

In response to a question, Dirdal said climate change is the No. 1 driver behind renewable wind energy. He also said there’s a push at the state level for offshore wind turbine development. He reviewed what it would take for the state to attract the wind turbine industry, saying existing industries would have to be trained to convert and that suitable sites for wind farms with sufficient transmission capacity would have to be located.

Turbine life expectancy and who would be responsible for removing the towers once the service life has expired were other concerns raised. Dirdal said the 10 megawatt generators they are considering can last up to 30 years, but the average life for smaller generators is about 20 years without a mid-life upgrade. He expects the state will include some guarantees for tower removal as it develops legislation for offshore wind farms.

Tower lights were another concern. Warner said lights fall under Federal Aviation Administration jurisdiction, but the FAA will need to know tower height and locations. Lights on the lower end of the towers will have to meet US Coast Guard and Army Corp of Engineer requirements. Any use of fog horns would have to be studied.

The developers also were questioned about financial incentives. Warner said there are basically three:

• Production credits for 2 cents per kilowatt hour

• Investment tax credits

• A 30 percent grant when the wind farm becomes commissioned and operational.

They admitted if it weren’t for financial incentives they might leave.

Not all attending the Shelby meeting were opposed to the project. One woman appreciated the fact developers were considering such a project for West Michigan that, she said, would update other aging facilities. She also was appreciative for developers selecting an area where people are struggling financially. She asked if the project could be moved south to Muskegon County where developers might face less opposition.

“We have no other plans to move it right now,” Dirdal said.

While the meeting at Peterson Auditorium in Ludington had plenty of opposition present, many others were more objective, saying they want to learn more information before forming an opinion. Mason County Commissioner Bob Erickson suggested a committee be formed to review a proposal and make a recommendation to the public.

Erickson said manufacturing is important to the area, and he envisioned a manufacturing facility on Pere Marquette Lake that would employ hundreds of people in the wind turbine industry. Erickson also said he could see that facility manufacturing wind turbine equipment for other Great Lakes wind turbine projects.

The next step is for the developers to find out what kind of local support there is for the project through the respective counties’ elected officials. How the two counties will determine that support wasn’t the developers place to say. Dirdal said the counties could chose to have a referendum vote, or they could make the decision in some other manner.

Warner has previously said he wants to apply for a lease to the state in the first quarter of this year, and he wants the counties to partner with them on the application.

With local support, the developers expect it would take another three years to complete environmental and non-environmental studies, permit applications and wind measurements. Financing commercial agreements are not expected until early 2015 when construction also is estimated to start. It would be another five years before the generating plant would be commissioned.