This just in from Crain's...
"Keith Cooley, the CEO of NextEnergy, has put together a consortium of industry heavyweights and lined up about $56 million in matching-fund commitments as it awaits word on a $45 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to build an engineering facility on Zug Island that would develop and test drivetrains for what could easily be the world's largest wind turbine."

...

"Cooley is ready to hit the ground running. He said funds should start flowing in January or February, and the project could be up and running in 12-18 months.

He said worldwide demand for 20 megawatt turbines could be in the tens of thousands over the coming decades: “That's enough to keep this area busy for decades.” The DOE grant is for five years.

Cooley said he hopes the testing facility would spark development of an industrial park on the island. He said it would make sense for wind-turbine suppliers to manufacture prototypes in adjacent buildings"

...

"NextEnergy, the Detroit-based nonprofit that aims to accelerate the state's role in clean and alternate energies, hired Albert Kahn Associates Inc., Detroit, to draw up plans for a 50,000-square-foot testing facility, which would house two dynamometers, each capable of generating 10 megawatts of power.

In theory, Cooley said, they could be coupled to test wind-turbine drivetrains capable of producing 20 megawatts of power, though 15 megawatts may be a more realistic target.

“China is working on a 10 megawatt turbine. No one else is doing anything approaching 20 megawatts,” he said. "
Full Article here
Skipper's Rule acknowledged, this is an exciting announcement.

Having worked in the smoke and dust of Zug Island I find this transition from old pollution plagued industry to new natural energy research imaginative and where we want to be going. It has to potential to leverage our region's great mechanical legacy into a new and front edge technology.

Maybe they should keep Kovacs open for a while longer...