Wind project planned for Lake Erie

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CLEVELAND, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A development company in the U.S. Great Lakes region said it's received $4 million in funding to start work in the first freshwater wind project.

The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. said it's received a 1-year, $4 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a demonstration program that will feature at least five wind turbines in Lake Erie off Cleveland.

"I am convinced that we are poised to become the first freshwater wind farm in North America, which will spawn a new wind power industry in Northeast Ohio," LEED President Lorry Wagner said in a statement.

The company said it has assembled a team of scientists to help advance the project with the aim of further freshwater development.

Thomas Mousten, a director for the U.S. wind subsidiary of Siemens, said the so-called Icebreaker wind project would feature turbines designed to operate in the harsh winters of the Great Lakes region.

There are no commercial-scale wind farms offshore in the United States. The government last year agreed to lease 96,430 acres of land off the coast of Delaware to NRG Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC for potential wind energy development.