Press Herald publishes profile on UMaine-led offshore wind project
The Portland Press Herald published the article, “Risky choices paying off for UMaine’s wind project,” about the University of Maine-led New England Aqua Ventus I floating offshore wind pilot project. The team, which is led by Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, made calculated gambles on several innovative strategies, including the unconventional materials used to make the platform and tower, the large scale of the test platform, and the sheltered-yet-stormy location chosen to test them, according to the article. The calculations now are paying off, as the consortium has the most advanced floating technology being developed in the United States, the article states. While almost all of the world’s ocean wind projects are made of steel, the Aqua Ventus project is composed of concrete, the Press Herald reported. “No one talked about concrete until we put ours in the water,” Dagher said.