Maine's off-Monhegan prototype ocean wind project drops from two floaters to one.

Listen to the August 18, 2020 zoom presentation & QA concerning the latest iteration of Maine's floating offshore wind turbine project.

33 minute presentation and q&a (mp3) AND Lincoln County News story 8/25/20.

EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE BY LCN's Evan Houk

"New England Aqua Ventus LLC,
a joint venture between Diamond Offshore Wind, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., and German RWE Renewables, the second-largest company in offshore wind globally, has replaced the previous company behind the project, Maine Aqua Ventus 1 GP LLC, according to Jake Ward, vice president for innovation and economic development at the University of Maine." 

"Wissemann was joined in the Zoom call by two colleagues at Diamond Offshore Wind, David Deutsch and Duncan McEachern, as well as a consultant recently hired by the company, Genevieve McDonald."  

 "$100 million in funding for the project, dubbed New England Aqua Ventus I."

"New England Aqua Ventus LLC will lead construction, deployment, and operations for the single 10- to 12-megawatt wind turbine..."

"The university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center will handle design, engineering, and research and development for the project, and will monitor it once it is operating."

 "Chris Wissemann, CEO of Diamond Offshore Wind, spoke for the joint venture and said he hopes to identify a landing site where the underwater cable from the wind turbine can tie into the power grid by the end of 2020:.

 "The route of the cable and where it will make land, both points of contention in mainland communities since the initiation of the project several years ago, are not yet clear." 

"Wissemann said a central concern is researching the impact that the turbine will have on the ecosystem of the area, particularly on fishermen." 

"We think it would be prudent to build only on research that demonstrates how people can operate around these things — how right whales can operate around these things, how fisherman can fish,” Wissemann said."

"New England Aqua Ventus LLC hopes to begin submitting permit applications early next year and start building the foundation in 2022, said Wissemann."

END OF EXCERPTS