Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. (LEEDCo) has introduced The POWER Pledge, an effort to give the northeast Ohio community an opportunity to become directly involved in promoting offshore wind energy in the Great Lakes.
By taking The POWER Pledge, members of the public are pledging to buy a portion of their electricity from offshore wind once Lake Erie's Icebreaker demonstration project is complete in 2017, according to LEEDCo. The five- to nine-turbine demonstration project, located seven miles off the coast of Cleveland in Lake Erie, would be the first freshwater offshore wind project in the U.S.
The organization says it will use the pledges to encourage local electricity suppliers to make offshore wind energy available to their customers.
"The POWER Pledge gives everyone in our region a way to advocate for our community's future. The pledge is in response to numerous inquiries we have received from people who want to get involved and show their support for the project," says LEEDCo President Lorry Wagner. "Offshore wind represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our region. Icebreaker will not only become a significant source of clean electricity and good local jobs, it will become a symbol of our region's leadership."
