Maine-Based Construction and Assembly of Aqua Ventus Floating Hull
PI: Habib Dagher (Advanced Structures and Composites Center, UMaine)
Sector: Engineering, Composite Technology
Partners: U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Cianbro, Stantec
Abstract: The RRF funding will be used to develop construction procedures which allow for the 8,000 tons VolturnUS floating concrete offshore wind turbine hulls to be produced in Maine. Offshore wind is Maine’s largest untapped renewable resource with 156 GW of capacity within 50 miles of shore. Floating turbine technology is required to harness this huge resource because of the deep waters in the Gulf of Maine. The New England Aqua Ventus project consists of two x 6 MW units 2.5 miles South of Monhegan Island. This will be the first floating wind project in the US, and will position Maine to lead in a global industry expected to exceed $146 Billion in the US in the next decade. The unique VolturnUS concrete hull technology developed and patented by UMaine has been shown to achieve a competitive commercial cost of electricity to 7.7 cents/kWh. The project will connect to the grid in 2020, create 1,500 Maine jobs, and allow the construction of larger commercial farms.