Why not floating windmills?

Larry Viterna, Ph.D., worked on wind energy development for many years with NASA and is now working on plans for wind turbines that will float far from shore.

“I think offshore wind on the Great Lakes can be very beneficial for energy potential as well as the economy,” he said Jan. 15. “I personally think (the wind turbines) should be located 15 to 20 miles off shore.”
Viterna said winds are higher farther from shore and said the 300- to 450-foot-tall wind turbines would not be as noticeable from shore.

His company, Nautica Windpower, is currently working to develop technology for floating wind turbines that can operate in deep waters far from shore.

With current technology, Viterna said, it is too expensive to place wind turbines too far from shore and in deep water.

He said floating wind turbines, possibly attached by weights to the lake bottom, need to be developed with less weight to be economically competitive, and he expects demand for energy to drive that development.

Ludington Daily