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First US Offshore Wind Turbine Launches in MaineToday marks a milestone for offshore wind energy in the U.S. with the official launch of a prototype floating turbine off the Maine coast, the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine deployed off the coast of North America. The 1/8-scale prototype VolturnUS, a 65-foot-high 20-kW turbine, will spend the summer being "de-risked" off the coast near Castine. Maine Senator Susan M. Collins did the honors, with a (scored) bottle of Madeira.
The project, backed the DeepCWind Consortium with the U. of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center and roughly 30 partners from government, academia, and industry, is one of seven offshore wind demonstration projects backed by the Department of Energy, and one of two being pursued in Maine, all exploring different technologies and strategies to lower the costs and complexities involved with offshore wind development. This particular project will focus on a semi-submersible platform, with a concrete hull and lightweight composite materials instead of steel. It also includes a buoy-based floating LIDAR system to measure wind resources and other metocean factors up to 600 ft above the surface.
So in addition to hawks and eagles, seagulls are now on the chopping block.
WOW! 20,000 watts of power at a cost of ???????
That's the equivalent of about 3 or 4 average portable generators, which would provide enough electricity for about 3 or 4 homes.
