US Floating Offshore Wind Industry To Tackle Maine

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With its tough, rocky coast, the US state of Maine could seem one of many least seemingly locations to launch an offshore wind trade. Nonetheless, the Granite State has been prepping for such an occasion all through the early 2000s, and all their desires simply would possibly come true.

One other Large Step For The Maine Offshore Wind Business

The massive information round Maine is the environmental evaluate for a new offshore lease area. In a press release issued simply yesterday, the US Bureau of Ocean Power Administration introduced that it has awarded a Ultimate Environmental Evaluation for a research-scale offshore wind website southeast of Portland, Maine.

“After carefully considering alternatives described and analyzed in the Final EA, as well as comments from the public and cooperating and consulting agencies on the Draft EA, BOEM finds that the issuance of a wind energy research lease within the proposed lease area offshore Maine, and related site characterization and site assessment activities, would have no significant impact on the environment,” BOEM said.

The plan is to launch as much as 12 wind generators within the offshore space, with a mixed capability of as much as 144 megawatts.

That’s small potatoes in comparison with different offshore sites along the Atlantic coastbut it surely’s an enormous step for a state that’s prepared to tackle distinctive challenges within the offshore wind space. If all goes in keeping with plan, BOEM anticipates that the Gulf of Maine might yield up to 15 gigawatts’ worth of unpolluted offshore kilowatts.

The characterization of the lease space as a analysis website additionally signifies that BOEM can transfer the approval course of ahead with out having to situation an Environmental Influence Assertion, which is required underneath the Nationwide Environmental Coverage Act for business offshore wind leases.

Floating Offshore Wind Generators To The Rescue

In case you’re questioning how Maine goes to take care of its less-than-optimal shoreline, that’s a great query. Other than the rocks and the weird tidal exercise in some areas, a lot of the state’s prime wind assets are situated in water too deep for the conventional offshore turbines seen elsewhere alongside the Atlantic coast, perching on high of tall monopiles sunk into the seabed.

The reply is new floating offshore wind expertise. As a substitute of sitting on monopiles, floating wind generators deploy on platforms which are tethered to the seabed by cables.

In comparison with monopile generators, floating wind generators contain a way more advanced feat of engineering, which explains why they’re solely simply starting to emerge within the offshore wind trade (see more floating turbine stories here).

Floating Wind Generators For The USA

The US Division of Power has been supporting floating wind research applications right here within the US, solely to see the expertise float off to France and elsewhere.

A part of the problem is the comparatively excessive price of floating platforms. That’s an angle researchers in Maine have been exploring for years, and progress has been a very long time coming.

CleanTechnica caught up with the state of affairs again in 2019, after we famous that wind fans in the state “suffered a disappointing blow” a number of years earlier than, in 2014.

“(F)ormer Governor Paul LePage ixnayed a gigantic offshore wind proposal from Statoil, but he did greenlight a more modest floating wind turbine R&D project involving the University of Maine’s 1/8 scale VolturnUS floating wind turbine prototypespearheaded by the firm Maine Water Wind,” CleanTechnica famous.

“A generous grant from the US Department of Energy sweetened the pot, and now it looks like all that hard work is about to pay off,” we added.

In reply to the platform problem, VolturnUS deploys concrete to assist scale back prices. “The University of Maine’s patented VolturnUS is a transformational floating concrete hull technology to harness offshore wind energy with the potential to significantly reduce the cost of offshore wind,” the varsity explains.

“VolturnUS can support wind turbines in water depths of 45 meters or more,” the varsity additionally notes.

Native Sourcing Is The Key

Concrete will not be the primary materials that involves thoughts for flotation. Nevertheless, the varsity’s Superior Constructions & Composites Heart on the College of Maine, explains that the hull design was “inspired and built like an upside-down bridge” to resolve that situation.

CleanTechnica caught up with the venture final fall, after we noticed that the College of Maine venture has been listening to native sourcing as a further cost-cutting technique.

“ASCC notes that the new hull deploys standard pre-cast bridge construction techniques that can be deployed practically anywhere in the world. Unlike steel construction, the materials can be locally sourced, and the developer can make use of local labor,” we famous.

Concrete additionally avoids the corrosion dangers that bedevil metal elements, which will help scale back lifetime upkeep prices. “Another advantage is the heavier weight of the concrete structure, which acts as a cushion against wave motion,” we additionally famous.

Subsequent Steps For Maine Offshore Wind Business

Don’t get too enthusiastic about Maine simply but. Other than expertise challenges, Maine Governor Janet Mills is going through blowback towards her administration’s number of undeveloped land on Sears Island to develop as an offshore services hub and port facility.

Nonetheless, Governor Mills and different policymakers should not about to tug one other Paul LePage on the state’s offshore wind stakeholders. Fairly the alternative, in truth. Other than accessing zero-emission electrical energy within the age of local weather change, state policymakers have been eyeballing offshore wind as a significant new job-creating trade for Maine, together with educational and analysis positions.

Final yr, Maine issued an in depth roadmap for the state’s floating wind industryin direction of a aim of three,000 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040.

Amongst different particulars, the roadmap additionally takes be aware of modern offshore expertise developed by way of the College of Maine. Along with the VolturnUS concrete hull, the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap lists a floating LIDAR system known as known as “DeepCLi-DAR,” developed as to evaluate wind assets. The Roadmap additionally describes new reduced-impact artificial mooring traces and “the largest polymer 3D printer that can be used in the production of composite components and tooling.”

As of final yr, issues have been transferring alongside at a great clip in direction of floating a full scale, 11-megawatt demonstration turbine out to sea, underneath the wing of the agency New England Aqua Ventus. Initially, NEAV was a three way partnership of the College of Maine, RWE Renewables, and the Diamond Offshore Wind department of Mitsubishi. RWE reached out to CleanTechnica with an replace final fall, to tell us that the corporate was promoting its shares in NEAV to Diamond Offshore Wind, together with its shares within the Maine Analysis Array.

“The company remains optimistic about future commercial opportunities, including in the Gulf of Maine, to deliver floating offshore wind at scale into New England,” RWE instructed CleanTechnica.

As for Maine, the state is set to grid-connect its floating turbine earlier than another state within the US, so keep tuned for extra on that.

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Picture (screenshot): Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap February 2023.