Grand Valley State University (GVSU) has selected AXYS Technologies from Vancouver, Canada to provide the equipment for its three-year offshore wind data collection project in Lake Michigan. The floating-buoy research platform will be equipped with Catch the Wind LIDAR technology to measure wind characteristics, with deployment anticipated in September 2011. The wind data and related research project will be managed by the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MEREC) of GVSU in Muskegon, in collaboration with the Phoenix Energy Institute of the University of Michigan. The project will evaluate the impact of wind, wave and ice climatology on the research platform at multiple locations, as well as characteristics of aquatic habitat and water quality. Michigan State University will support the project with bird and bat studies and related avian research. The City of Muskegon has agreed to be a co-applicant on environmental permit applications. Funding is supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy, the MPSC, We Energies, and the Sierra Club.