Wind Power on the High Seas Gains Speed (In Maine)

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http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=52&SubSectionID=78&ArticleID=13351

Wind Power on the High Seas Gains Speed

6/16/2011 3:34:00 PM

by Christine Parrish
Feature Writer

The effort to capture wind power more than 40 miles off the Maine coast using massive floating wind turbines continues on schedule - with lab trials at the University of Maine just completed in May, a first-in-the-nation offshore wind test lab opening at the University of Maine in Orono in October and preparations under way for wind turbine sea trials off Monhegan Island in July 2012.

Habib Dagher, director of the University of Maine AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center and the man who provides the guiding vision for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine, has helped place Maine solidly in the lead in wind technology research.

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Dagher said the overall goal of the 20-year project is to provide affordable electricity to the entire state of Maine that is cheaper than the existing rates.

By 2030, the plan calls for producing 5 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind power - an amount that would provide twice as much electricity needed to supply the state, with the surplus to be sold to the New England grid - and create 15,000 jobs.

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