Undergraduate Concentration in Offshore Wind Energy

Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering students can obtain a Concentration in Offshore Wind Energy by completing three (3) courses (9 credits) of offshore wind coursework with a grade of C or better.  Students are required to complete a minimum of two (2) core courses and a maximum of one (1) supporting course.  It is acceptable for all three courses to be from the list of core courses.  The core and supporting course lists are indicated below:

Core Courses

  • MEE 480 Wind Energy Engineering
  • MEE 489 Offshore Floating System Design
  • MEE 491 Offshore Wind Farm Engineering

Supporting Courses

  • MEE 441 Manufacturing and Testing of Composites
  • MEE 450 Mechanics of Composite Structures
  • MEE 459 Engineering Optimization
  • MEE 463 Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • MEE 477 Introduction to Structural Dynamics
  • MEE 490 Modern Control Theory & Applications
  • CIE 340 Introduction to Structural Analysis

The offshore wind industry in the United States is expected to experience significant growth in the forthcoming years. The federal government has set an objective of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, which would necessitate a substantial number of skilled workers in this field. Moreover, the Gulf of Maine boasts one of the best offshore wind resources in the country, and Maine’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy has identified offshore wind as a critical sector for the state’s economic growth. Overall, the development of offshore wind in the US and Maine will have a substantial impact on the economy, job market, and environment in the near future.

By completing the concentration, MEE undergraduates will gain skills essential for serving particular roles in the growing offshore wind industry here in Maine and beyond, including understanding socioeconomic and political factors, core wind energy industry concepts, hydrodynamic and structural design of floating platforms, offshore wind farm planning and operation, and/or offshore wind system-specific numerical engineering analysis techniques. For more information on the concentration, please contact Dr. Amrit Verma.