Maine fishermen aim to sink Biden’s offshore wind project
FOX Business’ Lydia Hu reports on President Biden’s wind energy plan, which is opposed by Maine’s fishing industry. Jerry Lehman, founder of New England Fishermen’s Stewardship, explained how the plan poses risks to marine life and fisheries, saying, “It will paralyze us.”
- The University of Maine is contributing to a global effort to improve floating machines to harness wind in deep offshore waters.
- Researchers envision a turbine platform floating in the ocean beyond the horizon, extending more than 700 feet.
- Floating turbines are the only viable option for U.S. states to capture large-scale offshore wind energy in waters too deep for traditional turbines.
As the waves grew larger and the wind gusts increased, the wind turbine gently swayed and its blades spun with a gentle whooshing sound. The rainstorm was at its peak and there was little drama other than the spray.
Problem-free results are exactly what the engineers aimed for.
The demonstration, which installed a 13-foot-tall floating wind turbine inside an indoor pool, was aimed at verifying that larger wind turbines could withstand powerful water and wind loads when deployed offshore. I was there.
America’s first large-scale offshore wind farm officially opens in New York, with more to come
This is the University of Maine’s contribution to the global race to improve floating machines to harness winds that cross deep offshore waters that are too deep to attach turbines to the ocean floor with permanent piles.
The first prototype of the University of Maine’s offshore wind turbine is seen in a file photo on Sept. 20, 2013, near Castine, Maine. Floating turbines are the only way for some countries and U.S. states to capture large amounts of offshore wind energy. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bucati, File)
Over the next decade, researchers at the University of Maine envision turbine platforms floating in the ocean beyond the horizon, extending more than 700 feet into the sky and anchored by mooring lines.
“These structures are huge,” Anthony Viscelli, principal engineer for offshore wind technology at the university’s Advanced Composites Center, said after the demonstration. “These will be some of the largest mobile structures humanity has ever endeavored to create, and there will be many of them.”
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As technology advances, dozens of designs are being promoted by experts looking at floating wind turbines as a way to move away from burning fossil fuels and combat climate change.
Floating turbines are the only way some countries and U.S. states can capture offshore wind energy on a large scale. In the United States alone, 2.8 terawatts of wind energy could be blown into oceans too deep for conventional turbines installed on the ocean floor, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This is enough to power 350 million homes, or more than double the number of existing homes in the United States.
The first floating wind farm began operation off the coast of Scotland in 2017. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior proposed the first floating wind auction in the Gulf of Maine, following a West Coast lease auction that began in 2022. The nearly 1 million acres of land up for auction off the coast of New England could generate enough clean wind energy to power more than 5 million local homes, the department said.
UMaine is home to the nation’s largest team of engineers dedicated to floating offshore wind. Other major companies include his Equinor, which has installed a demonstration floating project on the coast of Norway. Global company Principle Power has installed small scale projects off the coast of Scotland and Portugal. SBM Offshore is conducting a demonstration project off the coast of France.
However, floating offshore wind power is still a nascent industry and therefore comes with high costs.
Norwegian company Equinor has postponed the Trollvind floating project, citing technology availability, rising costs and a tight schedule to realize the original concept.
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Danish wind energy developer Ørsted has decided to focus on fixed-bottom turbines, avoiding deep-water areas such as Japan, Norway, Spain, Portugal and the US West Coast. “While we are committed to the affordability of renewable electricity, floating wind power is much more expensive than bottom-based,” said CEO Mats Nipper.
But others are moving forward.
Gazelle Wind Power develops modular platform systems for cost-effective and efficient manufacturing and assembly.
“This is a global problem, and it’s an ideal solution to bring power to shore,” said John Salazar, CEO of Gazelle Wind Power.
UMaine launched its first floating prototype 10 years ago, and after a study showed that the Gulf of Maine had the wind energy potential of 156 nuclear power plants due to fast, steady wind, the surprising world became a leader.
The state can meet all its home heating needs and power all its cars using just 3% of its water. If all cars were electric. This increases the odds of successfully sharing resources with fishermen, recreational boaters, the military, and of course marine life. In fact, the federal government’s lease proposal spares Maine’s major lobster fishery from development, removing a potential barrier.
Habib Dagher, director of the Center for Advanced Composites, said offshore wind pioneers are benefiting from the oil industry’s efforts to design floating oil and gas rigs.
The university’s Wind Wave Basin is taking that research to the next level with a pool-like pool equipped with wave and wind generators that can recreate ocean conditions leading up to once-in-500-year storms. .
On a recent day, a semi-submersible floating turbine was tethered to the bottom of the basin. Its 1:70 scale depicts a real turbine standing approximately 800 feet (240 meters) high on an ocean platform. The goal is to build industrial-scale turbines of 15 to 20 megawatts each, Dugger said.
Size and efficiency are the keys to profitability. Bicelli said larger wind turbines will reduce the number of wind turbines needed, reducing construction, installation and maintenance costs. Because of the increased size and efficiency, developers envision that only about 50 turbines would be needed to generate about the same amount of electricity as a nuclear power plant.
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A full-size turbine produces peak power from about 20 miles per hour. In case of a strong storm, it will automatically shut down to avoid strain or damage to equipment. The mooring lines connected to the ocean floor are made of ropes as thick as telephone poles and are under strong tension. This makes it safer for marine mammals.
For all turbine technologies, the platforms developed by UManee can be built on-site using concrete, a simple and readily available material. The university already has partners around the world interested in licensing its technology. The state of Maine plans to develop a port facility in the Searsport area, build a floating base and install turbines before sending it to the Gulf of Maine.
Being a completely new industry means that some of your design experiments will succeed, while others will fail. And efforts are being made to ensure that wind farms are good neighbors over the objections of other ocean users.
“We’re going to face some problems, and we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and find a way to solve these problems,” Dugger said. “And I don’t think we have any choice but to do that as a society.”
