GLIN==> Transmission essential to enable Great Lakes states to meet renewable energy goals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE				
Sept. 20, 2011

Great Lakes Wind Collaborative 4th Annual Meeting

Transmission essential to enable Great Lakes states to meet renewable energy
goals

The Great Lakes Wind Collaborative launched its 4th Annual Meeting today to
celebrate progress, examine challenges, and forge new partnerships and
priorities related to wind energy in the Great Lakes region.  

In his opening remarks, Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes
Commission, recognized the region's progress by highlighting the 12,000
megawatts of wind energy installed in the Great Lakes states and provinces.
His remarks also pointed to creation of more than 750,000 jobs and nearly
$80 billion in overall economic development benefits that could accrue if 20
percent of the region's electric power came from wind. 

Greg White, commissioner at the Michigan Public Service Commission,
elaborated on one of the challenges facing wind in the Great Lakes:
upgrading the nation's transmission grid to more readily accommodate new
sources of power. "Don't accept the thinking that changing the grid isn't
possible," White told participants. "Groups like the GLWC have a critical
role to play in laying the groundwork for sound policies."  

As of December 2010, the Great Lakes states had more than 12,000 megawatts
of installed wind power capacity, with Minnesota and Illinois as the largest
contributors. Congestion and lack of access to transmission has overshadowed
much of the national policy debate about increasing renewables.  Addressing
transmission is essential to enabling the Great Lakes states to meet their
renewable energy goals. 

Noting the environmental advantages of wind compared to other forms of
energy production, GLWC Co-chair Terry Yonker challenged the meeting
participants to "redefine wind power as a baseload capacity when it is
integrated into a geographically diverse smartgrid." 

Sharing information about what each state and province is doing is an
important part of these meetings, noted Great Lakes Wind Collaborative
Co-chair Mark Clevey of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and
Economic Growth. "But at the end of the day, regional progress to meet clean
and renewable energy is more than the sum of the individual jurisdictions.
Only the Great Lakes Wind Collaborative considers the environmental,
economic and social aspects of wind energy at a regional scale where the
greatest benefits are likely to accrue."   

P.J.  Saliterman of OwnEnergy, one of the day's panelists, echoed this
notion. "With immediate and continued innovation from the wind supply chain,
the Great Lakes region stands to gain a disproportionate benefit due to the
region's inherent manufacturing capabilities."

More than 100 people are participating in the three-day event.  Attendees
include wind developers, utilities, manufacturers, federal, state and local
agencies, academic institutions, and environmental organizations from across
the binational region and beyond. 

The remaining topics to be discussed include Ontario's Green Energy Act,
coastal and marine spatial planning, and offshore wind. The meeting is
taking place at the Eaglecrest Marriott in Ypsilanti, Mich., and will run
until noon on Thursday, Sept. 22.

Contact: Victoria Pebbles, 734-320-2788 (cell), 734-971-9135 (office), or
vpebbles at glc.org.


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The Great Lakes Wind Collaborative (GLWC) is multi-sector coalition of wind
energy stakeholders working to facilitate the sustainable development of
wind power in the binational Great Lakes region. For more information about
the GLWC, see http://www.glc.org/energy/wind.

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