Monhegan offshore wind postponed

The Rockland, Maine-based Free Press Online reports that the testing of a scaled-down floating deep-water offshore wind turbine off Monhegan Island this summer has been postponed until 2013.

Dockside, Monhegan.

In 2009, the Maine Ocean Energy Task Force selected a site off Monhegan as an offshore wind test site.  At the site about 2 miles south of the island, the University of Maine-led DeepCWind Consortium plans to develop a one-third scale (about 100' tall) floating platform and test turbine.  The consortium has described the Monhegan offshore wind project as a pilot project, designed to test platform and turbine technologies as well as to assess project impacts on the ocean environment.

Pre-development of the Monhegan wind project has been taking place.  The project has faced challenges, including a lawsuit alleging that the Maine Department of Conservation wrongfully granted the project a permit to use the site.  Throughout, the DeepCWind Consortium has targeted project deployment and installation for the summer of 2012.

Now, project proponent Dr. Habib Dagher is quoted as saying that some permits are still pending for the Monhegan site, meaning the project cannot be deployed this summer.  2013 is the new target for project deployment.

Floating offshore wind in US waters?

US coastal waters may soon see the development of floating offshore wind electric generating projects. Being able to install offshore wind turbines on floating platforms, as opposed to towers fixed to the seabed, may enable projects to tap into the vast deepwater ocean energy resource. This would represent a major step in history and technology, and could provide real data on the actual feasibility and costs of offshore wind in the United States.

The Cuckolds Light off Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with Seguin Island Light in the distance.

2012 may bring the deployment of North America's first floating offshore wind project. The DeepCWind Consortium and the University of Maine plan to test a floating wind turbine several miles off the Maine island of Monhegan next summer. The Monhegan project is designed as a pilot project, not a commercial effort. Nevertheless, the lessons learned off Monhegan could be used to shape a larger commercial project in 2013.

Historically, this project could be the first operating US offshore wind development. As 2011 closes, US waters still host neither operating commercial offshore wind projects, nor installed pilot projects of significant size. This is not for lack of interest. Universities and businesses are investing in offshore wind research and development, while developers eagerly pursue commercial projects in nearly all US jurisdictions. Commercial proposals range from projects fully permitted projects but unbuilt, to concepts still in the formation phase.

Technologically, a floating offshore wind project would demonstrate potential solutions to the engineering challenges posed by deep water sites. At least two floating turbines have recently been deployed around the world. The first, Statoil’s 2.3 megawatt Hywind unit, was installed off Norway in 2010. In November 2011, Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal (EDP) teamed up with Principle Power, Inc. to deploy a 2 megawatt turbine on a WindFloat platform off Portugal. The semisubmersible WindFloat design allows the unit to be towed in a horizontal position to the site, then erected without the use of a lift vessel. These test projects demonstrate some of the technologies required for deepwater offshore wind projects. A US project would represent a similar demonstration of new technology.

Floating offshore wind projects appear to have some momentum in Europe, and are poised to make a splash in US waters in the next year. Whether these efforts take hold depends on broader questions of economics and policy as much as on technology. What will 2012 bring?

February 24, 2011 - Maine offshore wind research

Collaboration between academia and industry is key to tackling the significant technical and legal challenges associated with the development of offshore wind potential.  This symposium held this week by the University of Maine and the DeepCWind Consortium gives project developers the research results they will need to make more informed bids for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine.

The report gives key data useful to any developer of a successful offshore wind project in the Gulf of Maine: data on "met-ocean conditions" (wind and wave data, weather information), the results of seabed characterization studies, electric interconnection and grid data, and information about the impacts of a given project on both the physical environment and stakeholder interests.  The compilation of this information entailed a massive undertaking, performed by the University and its research partners through a federal Department of Energy-funded grant.

This report dovetails with the Maine Public Utilities Commission’s request for proposals for long term contracts for deep water offshore wind energy pilot projects.  That RFP calls for initial responses from interested developers by May 1, 2011. The RFP solicits proposals to sell renewable energy, capacity, and RECs from one or more floating deepwater offshore wind energy pilot projects, with a possible carveout for tidal projects.  Last year's Ocean Energy Task Force bill gives the Maine PUC authority to approve one or more long term contracts for up to 30 megawatts of installed capacity and associated renewable energy and renewable energy credits from such projects.

Who will bid in response to the RFP?  Will there be a truly competitive process?  What will the responsive projects cost?  Will the incentives for developing these pilot projects be sufficient to attract concrete proposals?

November 17, 2010 - Boon Island offshore wind test site

In recent entries, I've been looking at potential development of Maine's offshore wind energy resources.  For example, this week I've looked at the test wind site off Monhegan Island, to be developed by the DeepCWind Consortium.  Back in August, I sailed past Damariscove Island, another of the three offshore wind test sites approved by Maine.

[Photo: Damariscove Island, one of Maine's offshore wind energy test sites.]

Maine's third offshore wind test site will be the waters off Boon Island near York.  (Boon Island is also the site of the shipwreck of the British freighter Empire Knight, whose sunken remains may contain over 8 tons of mercury, and possibly $200 million in copper-platinum wire.)

Boon Island is about 6 miles offshore of York.  It's a notorious shipwreck site, and has been home to navigational aids for over 200 years.  The current incarnation, Boon Island Light, is the tallest lighthouse in both Maine and New England at 133 feet in height; people on shore, as well as those at sea, can see its white beacon flash every 5 seconds.  Boon Island Light and its predecessors have faced some powerful storms over the years, some of which have been damaging.

Back in December 2009, the waters off Boon Island were selected as an offshore wind energy test site. Unlike the Monhegan site, which will be developed by the DeepCWind consortium, the Boon Island offshore wind site is available for a commercial developer to build a test facility.  As Maine's development of its offshore energy potential progresses, who will apply for the site license for Boon Island?

November 16, 2010 - DeepCWind off Monhegan

Yesterday I looked at the DeepCWind consortium's plan to develop an offshore wind test site in the waters south of the island of Monhegan, Maine.

[Photo: Manana Island, seen from the approach to Monhegan.]

The members of the DeepCWind consortium are arranged into 8 function-oriented task groups.  These tasks are:

• Task 1: Micrositing, Geophysical Investigations, and Geotechnical Engineering
• Task 2: Study of Environmental/Ecological Impacts
• Task 3: Permitting and Policy
• Task 4: Floating Turbine Design, Material Selection, and Lab Testing
• Task 5: Offshore Turbine Testing, Monitoring, and Reliability
• Task 6: Education and Outreach
• Task 7: Project Management and Reporting
• Task 8: Fabrication and Deployment

Each task group is in turn composed of between two and thirteen consortium members, drawn from academia, government and private business. For example, consortium members in the fabrication and deployment track include the following:

• AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center
• Cianbro Corporation
• General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
• Maine Maritime Academy
• Bangor Hydro Electric Company
• Central Maine Power Company
• Technip USA
• Reed and Reed

These members thus include the University of Maine's AEWC center, utilities, major contractors in the energy space, and marine-related businesses.

In the next years, members of the consortium will continue to collaborate as they work on testing both the offshore energy potential for Monhegan wind, as well as the technologies needed to harvest and transmit that offshore wind energy to serve load.

November 15, 2010 - Monhegan energy: wind?

Maine has designated the waters offshore of Monhegan Island as a test site for offshore wind energy development.

[Photo: down by the dock, Monhegan Island, Maine.]

The DeepCWind Consortium is planning to develop a one-third scale test platform and turbine about two miles south of Monhegan Island.  Exactly what type of platform will be tested is still up in the air, but choices under consideration include single spar, tension leg, and buoyancy stabilized designs.

Who is DeepCWind?  It's a consortium composed of a mix of private businesses and academics.  DeepCWind has been successful at grant writing and fundraising; for example, the US Department of Energy has awarded the consortium an $8 million grant to support its research.

The Monhegan site was announced by Governor Baldacci last December as one of three offshore wind test sites.  The Monhegan energy site will be developed by DeepCWind, while two other sites - one near York, Maine's Boon Island, and one off Damariscove Island near Boothbay - will be developed by private companies.  Each site measures between 1 and 2 square miles, and all fall within in Maine’s territorial waters.  The upshot of this is that Maine, not the federal government, will have authority to regulate siting issues.

If DeepCWind succeeds, within two years, we'll see an offshore wind energy test site in the waters south of Monhegan.