Maine Congressional Delegation announces $8 million grant to develop offshore wind test center in Maine

University-led partnership will develop and test offshore wind turbine technology

Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree today joined Governor John Baldacci and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in announcing an $8 million Department of Energy grant to develop a deepwater offshore wind test center in Maine.  The funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress and signed by the President earlier this year.
 
“This grant will put Maine in the forefront of the deepwater offshore wind industry,” Senators Snowe and Collins and Representatives Michaud and Pingree said.  “And it will help us create good paying jobs and develop new sources of clean energy produced right here in Maine.”
 
The Department of Energy Wind Energy Consortia grant is being awarded to a public-private partnership led by the University of Maine.  The $8 million grant will be matched by $14 million in additional investment from other federal funding sources, the University, state government and industry to fund research and development of floating offshore wind turbine platforms.  Over 30 public and private partners, from the University of Maine and Maine Maritime Academy to Bath Iron Works and Cianbro Corporation, joined together to form the consortium that won the grant.
 
“Secretary Chu recognizes the unique advantages Maine has in developing offshore wind technology:  the research capabilities of the University of Maine, an abundant offshore wind resource and generations of experience in boat building and commercial fishing,” the Delegation said.  “Selecting Maine as the home of the only deepwater offshore wind test center in the nation will help make us a leader in the clean energy industry.”
 
The Congressional Delegation, along with Governor Baldacci and Dr. Habib Dagher from the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, met with Secretary Chu to discuss the grant proposal this summer.  Two other similar grants, for land-based wind power research in Illinois and Minnesota, were also announced today.
 
Secretary Chu said the grants announced today will help create new jobs in the growing clean energy industry:
 
“Wind power has the potential to provide 20 percent of our electricity and create hundreds of thousands of jobs,” said Secretary Chu.  “We need to position the United States as the clear leader in this industry, or watch these high-paying jobs go overseas.  The investment we’re making today will help ensure that America has both the talent and the technology we need to compete.”