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

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