Federal government grants first floating offshore wind power research lease to Maine

PORTLAND, Maine — The federal government on Monday issued the country’s first floating bill offshore wind energy research lease to the state of Maine, covering approximately 60 square miles of federal waters.

The state applied to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a lease for a floating offshore wind energy research field with up to a dozen turbines capable of generating up to 144 megawatts of renewable energy in waters nearly 30 miles southeast of Portland, Maine.

The research series will use floating offshore wind platforms designed by the University of Maine and deployed by partner Diamond Offshore Wind. But construction likely won’t begin for several years.

The research is critical to the growth of Maine’s ocean wind energy sector.

Democratic Governor Janet Mills signed a bill Last year, Maine announced plans to purchase enough energy from offshore wind turbines to power about half of its electricity needs by 2040, and the state has selected a site to build, erect and deploy the turbine equipment. Over the next decade, researchers at the University of Maine see turbine platforms floating in the ocean beyond the horizon, extending more than 700 feet (210 meters) into the sky and anchored by mooring lines.

“Clean energy from offshore wind offers Maine a historic opportunity to create good-paying jobs, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Mills said.

The state applied for the lease in 2021. The approximately 23 square miles (60 square kilometers) in the federal lease is larger than the state’s application of about 15 square miles (39 square kilometers). It will allow the state, the fishing community, oceanography experts and the offshore wind industry to thoroughly evaluate the compatibility of floating offshore wind.

Floating turbines are the only way some states can capture offshore wind power on a large scale. In the U.S. alone, 2.8 terawatts of potential wind power is blowing across ocean waters too deep for traditional turbines that are attached to the ocean floor, according to the National Laboratory for Renewable EnergyThat’s enough to power 350 million homes — more than double the number of existing homes in the U.S.

President Joe Biden has made offshore wind energy a key part of his plans to combat climate change.

Since he took office, the Interior Ministry has approved the country’s first nine commercial offshore wind projects, with a combined capacity of more than 13 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power nearly 5 million homes.