Samsung, Canadian Hydro Wind Farms on Lake Erie

I'm a sailor, so I pay attention to the wind with some part of my mind at all times.

The other day, Environment Canada issued wind warnings for most of the north shore of Lake Erie, and I immediately thought about a recent article in The Globe and Mail on the Samsung Corporation's rumoured plans to build a wind farm on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie. No shortage of wind there.

The wind farm, which would stretch about 25 kilometres from Port Maitland to Nanticoke, would consist of approximately 200 wind turbines, and might also include up to 50 turbines on Six Nations land.

A few days following the Samsung announcement Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. announced that it has secured the rights for an offshore wind farm in the waters of Lake Erie. The turbines would be located between 5 and 30 kilometres offshore.

Both of these announcements may be directly attributable to Ontario's newly passed Green Energy and Economy Act, which includes a "feed-in" tariff that pays producers 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.