A Hywind Maine Restrospective

Statoil's Hywind Maine venture rose and fell between 2011 and 2013.  The proposal to set floating windmills offshore of Boothbay Harbor

Here are highlights of that process, including recordings of public events media coverage

July 5, 2013 Statoil puts Hywind Maine project on hold. Boothbay Register 

July 5, 2013 Statoil Freezes Hywind Maine ProjectOffshore Wind Biz

April 8, 2013 Statoil picks Maine commercial fisherman Larry Knapp as liaison to fishers. Boothbay Register.

*January 24, 2013. Maine's Public Utilities Commission approves Statoil's modified proposal Media coverage of PUC  decision   **** Statoil's comments to PUC, 8/156/12

2012

December 31, 2012 deadline to comment on Statoil plan; Federal Register notice

10/23/12 BOEM held Public Info meeting on Statoil in Boothbay. Meeting Coverage in Pen Bay Blog ( Listen to audio links here

6/26/12 BOEM and Statoil hold public info meeting in Rockland Pictures, interviews here ..... Pre-meeting review of planned meetings on June 25, 26 and 27,in Boothbay, Portland & Rockland.

June 21, 2012 Statoil Speaks: six Interviews at public info meeting in Rockland

June 21, 2012 After-meeting 20 minute conference call.

May 23, 2012. Feds/Maine ocean energy task force e-meeting considered next 2 steps in process reviewing Statoil's 4-turbine floating windpark plan.  

5/23/12 Public teleconference after Feds/Maine ocean energy task force e-meeting  20 minute mp3

April 4, 2012. Norwegian energy giant Statoil says it has not received enough subsidies from the state of Maine and the US Government to carry out its deepwater floating windfarm project off Boothbay Harbor, Maine. floating windmills.

3/12/12 Fishermen give chilly reception to Statoil offshore wind plan at 2012 Maine Fishermen's Forum. Media Coverage of 2012 Forum

2011
12/08/11 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Public Information meeting about Statoil plan off Maine

New ocean windfarm fishery impact study: drop in local species; increases in exotics.

Gulf of Maine fishermen wondering what changes offshore windfarms proposed off Maine portend for the future of their fisheries got sobering news from across the Atlantic recently.  

According to the Danish Energy Authority, a seven year study of the Horns Rev #1 ocean windfarm  in the southern North Sea reveal lasting changes to the mix of fish and invertebrate species inhabting the area.    

In the report "Effect of the Horns Rev 1 Offshore Wind Farm on Fish Communities:" researchers Simon B. Leonhard, Claus Stenberg  and Josianne Støttrup write that setting up and operating the 80 turbine ocean windfarm 12 kilometers off Denmark has: reduced local biodiversity and abundance, and has failed to attract additional pelagic and dermeral fish to the windpark's structure-filled environment.  


This is in marked contrast to articles based on  the wind industry's  media releases about the report, which characterize  the marine ecosystem as "Thriving Around Wind Farms".


Excerpts from the report: published by  Denmark's  National Institute of Aquatic Resources: DTU Aqua Report No 246-2011:

"The introduction of...Horns Rev Offshore Wind Farm to the sand banks characteristic of the southern North Sea resulted in changes in the fish abundances and community and in species diversity."

"Fish redistributed from being generally more abundant in the Control area before the establishment of the offshore wind farm to more similar fish abundance in Impact and Control area seven years later.


 "In contrast to the hypothesis that wind farms would attract pelagic and demersal fish species to the farm area, fewer fish of the different fish species were caught in the windfarm area after deployment. "  

The study found declines in the Danish sand eel fishery within the windpark, accompanied by increased biomass of the less commercial desirable  goldsinny wrasse 

Also noted was  a  drop in  current speed  of nearly 15%  and a 3 percent drop in wave height, in the lee of the Horns Rev I wind farm. This is the "wind shadow", as described in another report about Horns Rev 1)


An important distinction.   Horns Rev 1 is in fairly shallow (20 meters deep), high energy waters with a predominantly sandy seafloor. The effects on the Gulf of Maine's ecosystems of floating deepwater windfarms as proposed by DeepCwind Consortium and  Statoil,  may be markedly different.

Ocean Windfarms and Sea Surface Temperature: Are generated upwellings detectable?

The search for Alpha Ventus Ocean Windfarm.

The following images are yearly night time Sea Surface Temperature (SST)  images of the southern North Sea, from January 2005 to January 2012 taken by the AquaMODIS satellite.   The images span the  waters off Denmark Germany and the Netherlands  

                                                                                                                              The purpose of gathering, then enlarging the images by 2,000 percent, is to determine whether waters within and surrounding the Alpha Ventus ocean windfarm off the German coast showed any visible difference in local sea surface temperature, at the pixel level.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Alpha Ventus Windfarm consists of 12  five megawatt wind turbines  45 kilometers off the German coastal barrier island of Borkum. The windfarm went operational in the Autumn of 2009. Note that there is a fair amount of mixikng in shallow water envikronments, which may well mask any themal variation from upwelling, if any.                                                                                                                                                                                          Please  take a look and contact us with your observations, and suggestions.  Ocean windpower extraction will be coming to the Gulf of Maine, it is important to understand what impacts if any ocean windfarms can have on water column structure, as predicted and modeled by Norwegian govt meteorologist Goran Brostrom