NORWAY FLOATS MAINE WIND

Floating Maine wind farm under consideration
Tux Turkel, December 10, 2011 (Portland Press Herald)

"The Maine coast could become home to a pilot project [from the Norwegian energy giant Statoil North America Inc.] to create the country’s first deepwater, floating wind farm…

"If the four-turbine [test] project wins [a commercial lease on the outer continental shelf 12 miles from the nearest land and] approvals and the developer goes forward, it could be operating in 2016 and generate as much as 12 megawatts, equivalent to the power needs of about 18,000 homes…Statoil’s application is a major step for Maine’s ambition to create an offshore energy industry…[where] wind resources are better…and the sites are far enough from land to minimize the visual impact for coastal residents…"

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"To go forward, Statoil will need timely permit approvals from various government agencies, and decide in pending studies that the project makes business sense…It also will have to conclude that Maine is the best place for a commercial test of the technology, which Statoil and other companies are exploring in other countries…

"Ultimately, the state is trying to encourage development of a commercial-scale wind farm with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts by 2020. Additional wind farms are contemplated by 2030, leading to…billions of dollars in investment for the state and supporting industries…Statoil’s test project alone is valued at about $20 million…A UMaine study last year…concluded that in 2020 it will be possible to generate power in the 10-cent-per-kilowatt range, on par with conventional sources. The cost of producing power from Statoil’s four test turbines would be more than twice as much because it’s a small project…"