Posted on August 21, 2024
The US Department of Interior has issued the nation’s first floating offshore wind research lease to the state of Maine.
The lease area covers around 60 sq km and is located some 50 km offshore Maine on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and could allow for the deployment of up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines capable of generating up to 144MW of renewable energy.
The state requested the lease in 2021 and was awarded a lease a lot larger than the initially requested 39 sq km.
The floating offshore wind platforms will be designed by the University of Maine and deployed by Diamond Offshore Wind. The research done with this lease will be key to growing the offshore wind sector in the state. However, construction of the project will not start for several years.
Maine governor Janet Mills signed a bill in 2023 which foresees Maine covering around half of its electricity needs by 2040 from offshore wind.
“Clean energy from offshore wind offers a historic opportunity for Maine to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” Mills said.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US floating wind has the potential to harness 2.8TW of energy in ocean waters too deep for traditional turbines fixed to the ocean floor. That’s roughly enough to power 350m homes which is double the number of existing US homes.
