Maine announces floating offshore wind research array plans

Maine Governor Janet Mills has announced the state's plan to develop a floating offshore wind research array in the Gulf of Maine.

Analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and others has demonstrated that Maine's ocean waters and the broader Gulf of Maine have significant potential as sites for wind turbines to generate renewable electricity. As described by one NREL study which quantified Maine's offshore wind technical resource potential at 94,468 megawatts, "the offshore wind resource potential is 36 times greater than the state’s electric energy demand, which is proportionally greater with respect to load than any other state in the country." 

On November 20, 2020, Governor Mills announced that Maine plans to designate "a small-scale research array in the Gulf of Maine" to "engage the fishing industry’s expertise to minimize potential harms and maximize the benefits to Maine people from offshore wind". The announcement describes a research array expected to contain up to 12 floating wind turbines, spread over up to about 16 square miles of ocean space. It lists research project partners including "the University of Maine, whose floating foundations will be utilized in the array, and New England Aqua Ventus -- a joint venture of Diamond Offshore Wind, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, and RWE Renewables, one of the world’s largest offshore wind energy companies -- which will lead the array’s development."

Indicating that the site will be located in federal waters "some 20 to 40 miles offshore into the Gulf of Maine," the announcement states that Maine "intends to file an application for the research array with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management" which manages offshore wind site leasing. The announcement describes the Governor's directive to the Governor's Energy Office to collaborate on project siting with the commercial fishing industry, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, and other interested parties.

In describing the planned research array, the announcement also Maine offshore wind "critical to meet the state’s climate goals of moving Maine to using 80 percent renewable energy by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050, in order to curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions." It notes that offshore wind development "represents a significant opportunity for Maine’s energy future and economic recovery from COVID-19, as outlined in Maine’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy and a recent Clean Energy Economy report from the Governor’s Energy Office."

The announcement ties the research array plans to Governor Mills's ongoing Maine Offshore Wind Initiative. In March 2020, Governor Mills announced the designation of the Port of Searsport for a study of port opportunities related to offshore wind, including transportation, assembly, and fabrication of offshore wind turbines. Maine is also participating in regional offshore wind discussions, including through a Gulf of Maine Task Force established by BOEM in 2019 at the request of New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu.

At present, the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island is the region's only operating offshore wind farm. Numerous developers have proposed much larger projects in federal waters offshore New England, in response to state laws which collectively call for the purchase of gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.