WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) applauded an announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo) will receive federal funds for a wind energy project in Northeast Ohio. While LEEDCo was not one of the three winners of DOE’s Advanced Technology Demonstration Project program, the local nonprofit finished fourth and will receive at least $3 million in federal funds to continue its foundation, electrical system, and data collection work.

“While it is disappointing that LEEDCo will not receive the Energy Department’s full award, these funds are an important step towards Northeast Ohio building the first freshwater, offshore wind development in North America,” Brown said. “We must continue to fund clean energy projects that create jobs, strengthen our local economies, and protect the environment now and in the future. The work LEEDCo is doing with ‘Icebreaker’ will help break barriers so that this industry continues to grow and benefit our citizens here in Ohio and across the country.”

In 2009, LEEDCo was created as a private, nonprofit corporation to build wind turbines in Lake Erie and help develop Northeast Ohio’s offshore freshwater wind industry. LEEDCo is currently developing a wind energy project, entitled “Icebreaker,” that would install a wind turbine submerged in Lake Erie capable of withstanding significant amounts of ice, the first such project in North America. In December 2012, Brown secured $4 million in critical federal funds for Icebreaker.

In order to secure these funds and future funds for Ohio’s clean energy industry, Brown led a letter in May 2012 that was signed by several members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, supporting LEEDCo’s application for the grant program. In 2010, Brown convened a high-level meeting with LEEDCo, its partners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DOE, and the Council on Environmental Quality on permitting challenges and questions. Brown urged the Obama administration to strongly consider establishing the country's first demonstration wind project in Ohio.

In December 2013, Brown released a report that outlined Ohio’s potential for job growth and development as home to the fifth most green jobs in the nation. Ohio’s clean energy economy has added jobs at a much faster rate than the state’s overall economy. That is why Brown continues to call for the United States to utilize its strength as an innovator at both the state and local levels so that it can compete with countries like China that are quickly cornering the environmental technology market and the jobs that come with it.