Despite the best efforts of Governor Paul LePage, Maine’s offshore
wind energy industry appears to be one step closer to getting off the
drawing board and into the chilly waters. Maine’s Press Herald
is reporting that the University of Maine has received a relatively
modest Energy Department grant of $3.7 million to continue work on the
experimental Maine Aqua Ventus I floating wind energy pilot project, the
hoped-for precursor to an entire 500-megawatt floating wind farm.
Maine Aqua Ventus is a sister project to the UMaine’s 1/8-scale VolturnUS floating wind turbine prototype.
Though “just” a prototype, Volturn has already staked claim to the
title of first grid-connected floating wind turbine in the US, and if
all goes well it looks like Aqua Ventus won’t be far behind.
More Bucks For Floating Wind Energy
Maine is no stranger to onshore wind farms, but it’s a small state and land based sites are limited. The real action is in the notoriously windy waters offshore,
which have been compared to the energy of 150 typical nuclear power
plants (two would suffice for the entire state). The hitch is that
unlike its Atlantic Coast neighbors to the south, Maine’s coastal waters
are not particularly amenable to conventional offshore wind turbine
construction.
That’s where the floating angle comes in. Back in 2012 CleanTechnica took note when the UMaine sponsored a floating wind turbine design contest
for high school students, with the winner dubbed the “Floating Beast.”
Since then UMaine has been very busy. The school leads the DeepCWind Consortium, with this mission:
…to establish the State of Maine as a
national leader in deepwater offshore wind technology through a research
initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National
Science Foundation, and others. The University of Maine-led consortium
includes universities, nonprofits, and utilities; a wide range of
industry leaders in offshore design, offshore construction, and marine
structures manufacturing; firms with expertise in wind project siting,
environmental analysis, environmental law, composites materials to
assist in corrosion-resistant material design and selection, and energy
investment; and industry organizations to assist with education and tech
transfer activities.
The DeepCWind Consortium consists of
approximately 30 members around the country, including two universities,
two nonprofits, and a diverse group of industry leaders.
The grant of $3.7 million follows a $3 million grant awarded just
over a year ago (and a $4 million grant before that), with the aim of
enabling Aqua Ventus to get to the “front-end” engineering design of the turbine platform,
as well as to develop and validate a manufacturing plan for the project
overall. The ultimate goal is a pilot wind farm off the island
Monhegan.
As reported by the Press Herald, the new Aqua Ventus grant
is something of a consolation prize. Last year Aqua Ventus contended
for a one-third share of a $141 million Energy Department grant, but it
went to three other cutting-edge offshore wind energy projects instead. Speaking of Monhegan, if and when it is constructed the pilot wind
farm could help provide the island’s residents with electricity rates
less onerous than the current rate of 70 cents — yes 70 cents — per
kilowatt hour.
The tradeoff could be a disruption in the sight line from this
important tourist spot, at least temporarily. When Aqua Ventus received
its earlier $3 million grant last year, the Bangor Daily News reported that the Monhegan wind farm might not come about after all.
However, the Daily News also reported that the ultimate goal
of the UMaine consortium is a 500 megawatt wind farm farther out in the
Gulf of Maine, about 2-1/2 miles south of the island. Though the
turbines would top out at 526 feet from the water to the tip of a blade,
making them among the world’s largest, they would not be visible from
shore.
Despite some nerves over the location, the Daily News spoke
with several full time residents who, with climate change in mind, were
looking forward to the win-win prospects over the long run, since access
to wind energy would wean the island from its current dependence on
diesel generators (that explains the high electricity rate, btw).
Wind Energy Monkeywrenched By Governors
Maine’s LePage isn’t the only Atlantic Coast governor to shoot his (or her) own offshore state’s wind energy potential in the foot, despite the enormous economic potential involved (guess why). New Jersey, for example, was an initial signer of the 2010 Atlantic
Coast Offshore Wind Energy Consortium, organized under the Department of
the Interior to coordinate — and speed up — development of US offshore
wind resources. In 2010 the New Jersey State Legislature also directed
the state’s Board of Public Utilities to implement a new law calling for
the development of 1,100 megawatts of offshore wind energy.
However, during his tenure New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has let the state’s interest in offshore wind energy drift (guess why), even while nearby Rhode Island provides a nifty demonstration of the job-creating potential involved in offshore wind energy projects. Last year the company Fishermen’s Energy
won a $47 million share of the Energy Department grant that Aqua Ventus
missed, aimed at building a demonstration scale wind farm off the New
Jersey Coast by Atlantic City. That should have accelerated the project
into the go zone, but for reasons not fully explained the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities denied approval for the proposal.
The company appealed BPU’s decision
to the state’s Supreme Court this summer and lost its case last month,
but as with Aqua Ventus it appears that news of the project’s death may
be premature.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/18/im-not-dead-yet-massive-maine-offshore-wind-energy-project-clings-life/
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