Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) has given a lifeline to the 21MW Icebreaker offshore wind farm on Lake Erie in the US.
The board has voted in favour of drafting an amendment that would remove the night-time shutdown clause in the OPSB’s approval of the project.
However, a final decision is not yet in place and the revised ruling has yet to be drafted and voted on.
Project developer Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) said that the amendment was offered by Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Mertz said at an OPSB meeting on 17 September that she believed there were some “valid objections” to the night-time shutdown decision that made the Lake Erie wind project financially unfeasible.
LEEDCo president Dave Karpinski said he is anxious for the official vote, after which the developer looks “forward to working with the State of Ohio on additional steps needed to make this project a reality”.
The decision follows a LEEDCo appeal for a rehearing on the siting board’s May decision to mandate the wind farm cease operations every night from March until November.
LEEDCo said that shutdown mandate contradicted evidence presented and made the project uneconomic.
Karpinski said: “This is an important and positive development for Ohio, and we want to thank Mary Mertz for hearing our concerns and introducing this amendment.
“I especially want to thank Rep Jeff Crossman and Sen Sandra Williams who, as non-voting members of the board, strongly advocated for this project and on behalf of transparency, clean energy and new jobs.”
In addition to Williams and Crossman, 30 additional legislators comprising a quarter of the Ohio General Assembly sent a letter to the State a month ago encouraging the board to revisit the puzzling May ruling.