Federal grant for Maine offshore wind
Maine is getting a $2.16 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to map out plans for an offshore wind energy industry, and join other Northeast states already promoting their own vast hopes for turbine arrays.
“Unleashing American innovation is critical to our global competitiveness,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in announcing the grant Oct. 1. “This project will allow Maine to capitalize on its technical leadership in the wind power sector to diversify and grow the state’s economy and make it more resilient.”
The EDA grant to the Maine Governor’s Energy Office will be matched with $267,624 in state funds and $112,457 in local funds, according to federal officials.
The money will be used to “create a roadmap for establishing a floating offshore wind power industry by examining manufacturing processes, supply chains, port facilities, transportation systems, shipbuilding opportunities, ecosystem relationships, workforce development plans, power interconnections, exports, and economic impacts,” according to Commerce Department official Dana Gartzke.
Maine has followed twists and turns in developing offshore wind. Deeper waters of the Gulf of Maine would require the use of floating turbines, unlike the fixed foundations planned for big projects on the outer continental shelf off southern New England.
The University of Maine has led with a pilot project, an early floating wind turbine off Castine, Maine, that was notable for being the first in 2013 to deliver power to sh...
The Maine Aqua Ventus project, a University of Maine demonstration plan for a pair of 6-megawatt floating turbines off Monhegan Island, was dealt a setback in 2018 by state regulators under former Gov. Paul LePage, a wind energy skeptic.
Now wind power has a more favorable political climate in Maine with the administration of Gov. Janet Mills. With momentum building, the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March featured for the first time a full day of seminars on the potential for offshore wind developme...
“Maine is committed to the development of clean energy, the fight against climate change, and the pursuit of innovation to broaden and strengthen economic opportunities for our people,” Mills said in a joint statement with federal officials.
“This important award will give Maine a roadmap for growing our clean energy economy in collaboration with our heritage industries, especially fishing, in order to support our state’s economic recovery from covid-19 and sound the call that Maine intends to be a global competitor, innovator and leader in floating offshore wind.” Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King expressed their support, as did Rep. Chellie Pinegree.
“Mainers currently pay some of the highest electric rates in the country and our offshore wind resource potential is 36 times greater than the state’s electricity demand,” said Pinegree. “This support for offshore wind power will not only lower electricity rates, it will provide a home-grown solution to our energy needs while providing a boost to our economy.”
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Comment
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Comment by Frank J. Heller, MPA on October 27, 2020 at 7:32pm
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The details and assumptions about the floating windmill anchored off of Monhegan are premised on an impact assessment by the Dept. of Energy not DEP; so there was no study of the impact on the 4 acre bottom land being leased....'uh it floats' or the cable to the grid (??) , nor the currents which I've personally experienced and are not only legendary but have resulted in large buoys used as dampers to to reduce rocking for lobster boats.
Anyone taken a hard look at this latest 'money grab' by UMS?
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Comment by Penny Gray on October 7, 2020 at 6:31pm
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Calgon, take me away...
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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