The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

State Narrows Areas Off Coast for Test Wind Turbines

November 02, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- State officials have zeroed in on four areas along the Maine coast where developers may soon be allowed to install and test offshore wind turbines.

The sites – near Boon Island in York County, Damariscove and Monhegan islands in Lincoln County, and Cutler in Washington County – were chosen based on wind patterns, ocean depths and potential effects on shipping, wildlife and coastal communities, among other factors, said Robert Marvinney, a Department of Conservation geologist.

"There are no places that have no conflicts," Marvinney said Tuesday. "We're just trying to minimize those. There are still going to be some discussions about these sites."

Marvinney and other officials will review one more round of public comments and continue meeting with fishermen, coastal residents, wildlife experts and others before announcing a final list of approved sites in December. Because Maine's Legislature has authorized as many as five sites, all four could make the cut.

Maine is moving fast to test new technologies for floating turbines that could be used in deep offshore waters, Marvinney said. There is only one working offshore turbine in the world. Gov. John Baldacci and other state officials visited that platform, off the coast of Norway, last month.

"We want to position Maine as best we can to be in the front of this, rather than behind other states," Marvinney said.

Other states are planning for anchored turbines in relatively shallow inshore waters. Maine, with its deeper coastal waters and its proximity to the vast and windy Gulf of Maine, is in a strong position to develop offshore technologies, officials said.

While the test sites identified Tuesday are within three miles of land – and therefore under state control – the technology ultimately would be used father offshore, where there is more room for commercial-scale development, Marvinney said.

"To really have a commercial operation, you need more space," he said. "In our view, that's further offshore, in federal waters."

Maine officials envision $20 billion worth of wind farms far offshore, creating as many as 15,000 jobs and generating five gigawatts of power.

The Department of Conservation, along with the State Planning Office, will accept public comments on the proposed test sites until Nov. 30. The Legislature set a deadline of Dec. 15 to finalize the list.

Developers could then apply for permits to develop the turbines. The state will lease the sites for five years and limit the developers to two turbines in each location.

One of the sites will be reserved for the University of Maine, which recently won an $8 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to test the technology. It's not yet clear which site the university will develop, Marvinney said.

The sites were narrowed down from a total of seven larger areas. Each site is now one to two square miles, said Matt Nixon, a coastal planner with the State Planning Office.

The selection process included reviews of a wide range of factors, but there are still unknowns, Nixon said. For example, scientists have many questions about how migrating birds and bats will respond to the moving structures.

"There are still a lot of holes that we need to fill to know how these technologies will affect these species," Nixon said. "There's only one (offshore turbine) in the world. There isn't a lot of (research)."

Marvinney said the test sites along the Maine coast could help fill many of those gaps in the science.

By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, October 28, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Mid Coast, Downeast


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News