Although the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has nearly nixed plans for proposed offshore windmills due to high costs, other companies plan to move forward in places like Lake Erie and the Nantucket Sound.

LIPA had originally estimated the project to cost $356 million, but that price quickly escalated to a hefty estimate of around $800 million this past year. The chairman of the agency, Kevin S. Law, will recommend to other board members to cancel the plan at its Sep. 25 meeting.

Meanwhile, other plans are picking up speed. Cape Wind, a company that plans to build 130 windmills in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts, has not released what its project will cost. In Ohio, Cuyahoga County Commissioners hired Juwi International, a German company, to conduct a $1 million study into whether building up to 10 wind turbines in Lake Erie is financially feasible. The project could cost $60 million and produce 20 megawatts of electricity. Nonprofit group Environment Ohio reported that using wind to supply 20 percent of Ohio’s electricity by 2020 would create 3,100 permanent full-time jobs and would reduce carbon emissions equating to taking 2 million cars off the road. Developers in Delaware are also exploring offshore wind farms.

If any of these projects succeed, the United States could finally join Europe in offshore wind energy production.