Wind power taking off big time in NW OH and SE MI

In an article entitled "NW Ohio, SE Michigan wind power is churning up cash: Area farmers reap rent, utilities add power sources," the Toledo Blade reports that many hundreds of millions of dollars on investment in wind power is happening or planned in the very neck of the woods that hosts both the Davis-Besse and Fermi 2 atomic reactors. The article reports:

"According to the American Wind Energy Association, Ohio has 3,683 megawatts of potential wind-generated electricity 'in queue,' waiting for either regulatory approval or economic conditions, and Michigan has 2,518 megawatts in the same status."

Even dividing that 6,201 megawatts-electric by three, to account for wind's "intermittancy," is still 2,067 megawatts-electric. That's more than twice Davis-Besse's 907 megawatts-electric. It's actually more than Davis-Besse's and Fermi 2's (1,122 megawatts-electric) output combined: 2,067 megawatts-electric from wind power, versus 2,029 megawatts-electric from nuclear power.

Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio, have intervened against a 20 year license extension at the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo. The environmental coalition's top contention is that wind power alone could replace Davis-Besse's output. In addition, the coalition has contended that wind power plus solar power could easily replace Davis-Besse, especially in combination with compressed air energy storage -- which Davis-Besse owner and operator FirstEnergy already owns, at the Norton [Ohio] Energy Storage Project. Al Compaan, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Toledo, serves as expert witness for the coalition on its renewable energy contentions. Terry Lodge, Toledo based attorney, serves as the coalition's legal counsel.