Three Great Lakes developers have proposed plans to install hundreds of wind turbines on Lake Michigan, according the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Planning for the farms is in early stages, but state agencies in Michigan and Wisconsin are churning with efforts to crank up the first seaworthy windmills. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle recently kicked off a year-long study to check out the potential for wind energy on the lakes.

The Department of Energy says there's enough offshore wind capacity to power the entire United States. For all its potential, though, wind farming on America's coasts has run aground so far. Concerns about cost sank a try in Texas and Not In My Bayside Overlook (NIMBO) attitudes have stranded the Cape Wind project off Martha's Vineyard. Europe has had better luck, with several farms operating just off their continent.

Getting a Great Lakes project off the ground could prove daunting as permitting in those waters involves a tangle of federal and state agencies. For example, the U.S. Interior Department's Minerals Management Service has jurisdiction over national offshore wind projects, but not in the Great Lakes, where the Army Corps of Engineers has that honor.

One of the proposals, called Radial Wind, envisions 390 turbines placed smack in the middle of Lake Michigan, on the shallow Mid-Lake Plateau (map) about 18 miles offshore from Milwaukee. That ought to be far enough from breaking waves to protect the views of lakeside residents, but the technology to erect turbines in the 200 feet deep plateau waters isn't quite ready for prime time.

The other two proposals would keep the breeze burners within a few miles of shore, much more visible, but also more feasible technically. These developments would comprise between 200 and 600 turbines each.

All of these plans are preliminary, with no funding arrangements or a single permit app filled out. Radial Wind hopes to break ground by 2012. That should give the developers just enough time to beat out Cape Wind.