When completed, the Lake Erie project will be the first freshwater wind farm in the United States, thanks to a partnership between General Electric Co. and the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) of Northern Ohio.

Individual turbines will stand about 300 feet tall, about six miles offshore of Cleveland, Ohio, northwest of Cleveland’s drinking water intake crib (a crib is a building that protects the water intake shaft) and the Cleveland Brown’s football stadium.

Though its beginnings will be small, about 20 megawatts, turbines could begin spinning as early as 2012, with eventual expansion to 1,000 megawatts, or one gigawatt, by 2020 – the expansion phase in increments and at locations yet to be determined. 

General Electric will supply the turbines – five, 4-megawatt, specially designed gearless turbines, each weighing 225 tons, that work via a giant ring of magnets to spin three 176-foot blades which are both longer and lighter than the average turbine blade, thanks to carbon fiber in strategic locations. The turbines are specially constructed for offshore wind harvesting. In addition, the large diameter of the magnetic array allows the generator to produce more power at wind speeds as low as 7 mph.