Characterizing the Great Lakes marine renewable energy resources: Lake Michigan surge and wave characteristics

The Great Lakes, Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, are a system of interconnected freshwater lakes located primarily in the upper region of North America and on the Canada-United States border. Lake Michigan, the second largest in volume and the third-largest in surface area among the Great Lakes, is approximately 494 km long and 190 km wide. The historical wave data show that significant wave height can reach up to 6 m both in the northern and southern basins. In addition, the long-term lake level data reveal that storm surges can exceed 1.5 m in Green Bay, one of the shallowest parts of Lake Michigan. This study characterizes the marine renewable power generation resources including storm surge and wave for Lake Michigan. It is shown that an extreme surge event similar to that of January 12, 1975 could contain a total theoretical potential energy of approximately 58 GWh. The analysis of the lake-wide wave data shows that the monthly mean wave power is greater in the central and southern basins. Wave power is highest in October and November, when the monthly mean wave power exceeds 9 kW/m. The monthly mean wave power is the lowest in late spring and during summer, when it becomes as low as 1.5 kW/m. As a result, it is found that there is significant potential marine renewable energy in Lake Michigan that may be suitable for generating meaningful levels of electricity from storm surges by developing artificial 'lagoons' in the shallower parts of the lake. This study, which follows the recent work on characterizing the Great Lakes' marine renewable energy resources [1], is the first attempt on characterizing Lake Michigan's marine renewable energy resources.