As the debate rages on about whether or not to locate offshore wind farms in Lake Michigan, one Muskegon County road commissioner says he's seen one wind farm that's not only become a tourist attraction overseas, it's increased the catch for local fishermen.
According to excerpts from the story:
An eyesore or thing of beauty? A detriment to tourism or a magnet for it? That is the core of the debate raging between proponents and opponents of wind farms off the shores of Lake Michigan. Muskegon's Jack Kennedy has seen a waterfront wind farm in action.
Kennedy is a Muskegon County road commissioner, project manager for Muskegon Construction Co. and a member of the Muskegon County Sustainability Coalition. While visiting Arklow, Ireland, a few years ago in County Wicklow -- a community similar to Grand Haven -- Kennedy said he had to see the Arklow Bank Wind Park, located off an historic port and fishing community 50 miles south of Dublin on the Irish Sea across St. George's Channel from Great Britain.
The seven GE 3.6 megawatt offshore wind turbines might speak to Muskegon's future, Kennedy thought on his Irish trip two years before Scandia Wind Offshore arrived in West Michigan with an aggressive development plan of offshore wind farms and an onshore wind turbine manufacturing facility. Today, Kennedy recalls how the turbines six miles off the Irish coastline had become somewhat of a tourist attraction.
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