In 2023, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory identified extensive potential offshore wind resource in the Great Lakes. All eight Great Lakes states have some type of clean, renewable, or alternative energy goal, and five of the eight Great Lakes states have a commitment to reach 100% clean or renewable energy by 2040 or 2050. Offshore wind energy is one resource to achieve these goals. The offshore wind industry expanded quickly off the ocean coasts during the Biden-Harris Administration. In the early days of the Trump Administration, the federal government announced a reversal in federal support for offshore wind, which will reverberate along the ocean coastal states.
The Great Lakes region presents a different context. The Great Lakes states have not been as influenced by federal offshore wind policy; they were neither spurred to action nor should they be thwarted by changes at the federal level. This is due in part to the federal leasing agency not having the same jurisdiction and authority in the Great Lakes as it has in the oceans. The onus for offshore wind in the Great Lakes rests upon Great Lakes states because they are trustees of the public lakebed and have exclusive jurisdiction over lakebed leasing.
Thorough planning must precede any development to ensure environmental, social, and financial factors are considered and to determine whether a site is suitable for development. Building on the recommendations for a legal framework we described in a previous publication, this article emphasizes the need for thorough planning and identifies existing coastal management tools available to states in that effort. We compare two state-based offshore wind projects as case studies and identify key differences that suggest why one project successfully reached operation while the other stalled out after years of delays. Finally, we explore several options and benefits of regional planning for offshore wind in the Great Lakes.
This law review article:
- Identifies Special Area Management Plans (SAMPs) under the Coastal Zone Management Act as existing legal authority states may use to assess feasibility and suitability of offshore wind development in their waters;
- Highlights opportunities and benefits of regional collaboration and planning; and
- Recommends that Great Lakes states position themselves for future opportunities arising with the next pendulum swing of attitude at the federal level towards offshore wind.
Read the research:
Cora L. Sutherland & Melissa K. Scanlan, Great Lakes Offshore Wind: An Analysis of Coastal Management Planning Tools, 6 Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies 308 (2025) (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5198830).