Energy Secretary Steven Chu to Visit UMaine Deepwater Offshore Wind R&D Facility Monday
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will tour the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center on Monday June 14. During his visit, Chu will learn more about UMaine’s innovative research and development activity related to deepwater offshore wind power. Maine voters signaled their support of that technology development work on Tuesday when they approved a bond providing $11 million to help a UMaine-led consortium develop a testing site off Monhegan Island.
“I believe that deepwater, offshore wind has enormous potential to help us meet our nation’s electricity needs and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But, it also presents an exciting opportunity for the State of Maine to create thousands of much-needed, good-paying ‘green jobs,'” says Sen. Susan Collins, who will also participate in Monday’s event. “The University of Maine is truly leading the way, and I am delighted that Secretary Chu has accepted my invitation to visit and learn more about the 10-year plan that it and the State of Maine have developed for the design, testing, and deployment of floating deepwater wind turbine platforms.”
Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree are also expected to attend on Monday.
Prof. Habib Dagher, the center’s director, will lead a laboratory tour beginning at 11:15 a.m. Over the course of 45 minutes, Dagher and his colleagues will provide detailed information about all the project elements, including those related to fabrication, design, environmental considerations and regulatory issues. News photographers will have the opportunity to shoot photos and video during that tour.
There will be a brief media availability immediately following the tour of the lab.
Chu, who became Secretary of Energy at the beginning of the Obama administration, earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007. At the time of his appointment, Chu was a University of California Berkeley professor in physics and molecular biology, also serving as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
He becomes the fifth member of the president’s cabinet to visit UMaine in the past year, following Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke.