8,000 wind-related jobs by the year 2030.
3,000 of those, just ten years off.
Pie in the sky hopes, or an effort to produce excitement now - for a big payoff later?
'A little of both' says NorTech VP David Karpinski, who acknowledges the survey his group commissioned is just a snapshot in time, with unforeseen changes ahead as the wind energy industry grows.
Nortech is one of several business development groups pushing to step up public and private investment in wind energy. Karpinski believes the industry can flourish in Northeast Ohio, and a proposal to erect several wind turbines on Lake Erie is a good start.
Karpinski says his group's report is intended to explain the path of offshore wind development - and help with recruitment.
KARPINSKI:"We're looking for partners that understand the cost challenge, and are ready to commit to really innovating and driving down the cost; to make this thing economically viable over the long term. We're committed to do it, it's a challenge, but we're all ready for that challenge, and we've done it before in the region, that's what we're good at."
Critics say the 41-page report fails to recognize the myriad other projects that may be further along the path to building than the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation. That's the local group pushing to make Northeast Ohio first with an operational wind farm, which LEEDCo President Lorry Wagner calls; a 'critical' step.
He notes that Ohio is third in the nation in producing parts for wind turbines, and the prospect of putting hundreds of turbines on the lake could induce companies that actually build turbines, to establish those facilities here.
WAGNER: "Are we going to have the 20% of the regional industry or are we going to have 80%? There's a lot to be said for doing it first and doing it right."
Wagner says the race to harness the wind could blow perhaps 600 construction jobs into the region as soon as 2012.
