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March geo-survey first step in estimated 2023 launch
JOSEPH CHARPENTIER Tue, 02/23/2021 - 10:00am
The Volturn 1:8, a to-scale test of the turbine which will be installed off the coast of Monhegan Island and is presumed to go live in 2023. File photo
New England Aqua Ventus (NEAV), formerly known as Maine Aqua Ventus, will soon begin ramping up efforts to put a single 10-12 megawatt turbine about two miles south of Monhegan Island. The project seeks to lay over 20 miles of cable several feet under the ocean floor from East Boothbay shores to the site.
The floating semisubmersible hull is a University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center design patented as VolturnUS. The UMaine-based researchers and engineers constructed and ran a 1:8, one-to-eight, version of a six megawatt turbine off the coast of Castine.
Maine governor to pause wind projects, consult fishermen
January 25, 2021 GMT
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine’s governor said Monday she will call for a 10-year moratorium on some offshore wind projects and consult with fishermen and members of marine industries about future wind energy projects in the state.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is a proponent of offshore wind, but many members of the state’s commercial fishing industry have expressed concern about what wind projects could mean for their businesses. Mills said her proposal would protect fishing businesses within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of coastal waters that are managed by the state.
MLA unhappy with wind power initiative
BAR HARBOR A Gulf of Maine offshore wind power initiative Maine Governor Janet Mills rolled out late last year has raised concern in the lobster fishing community, with Maine Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron telling The Islander that “the area identified by the state of Maine for a potential offshore wind farm is prime fishing bottom for Maine fishermen.”
Mills first announced plans to explore offshore wind development last June, when she signed a bill requiring the Public Utilities Commission to approve a floating offshore wind demonstration project, the first of its kind in the United States. The program, Aqua Ventus, is run through the University of Maine and is funded through $39.9 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.