Jim Boyd coordinates a wind working group in Grand Marais, Minnesota on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Windustry has been working with the group for over the past year to explore the possibility of a Community Wind project there.
After some research and testing by Professor Mike Mageau from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, the wind potential was assessed higher than expected from the state wind resource map.
“But we quickly learned that moving from ‘wouldn't it be grand’ to ‘let's try it’ is difficult,” writes Boyd in his article “North Shore wind turbine offers challenge and opportunity” at MPRnewsQ. A promising site on a ridge above Grand Marais has been dismissed as a migratory route for raptors. Other issues present a complex of hurdles for what was intended as a small Community Wind project to benefit the area with clean local energy and new jobs.
Read the whole story at MPR newsQ.