Dagher quoted in Bloomberg article on oil industry, offshore wind farms
Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center which is developing offshore wind technology, was quoted in the Bloomberg article, “The oil industry can teach offshore wind farms how to stay afloat.” Floating turbine foundations cost about eight times more than seafloor-based supports for their conventional counterparts, according to the article. But they can be reused to support replacement turbines when old ones reach the end of their quarter-century life span, the article states. “Every 20 or 25 years, no matter what you do, you have to replace the turbine,” Dagher said. Since the biggest expenses of offshore wind projects are foundations and associated infrastructure, floating designs that allow reuse of those expensive structures are more cost-effective, Bloomberg reported.