New funds for deep water research

US: Voters in the north-eastern state of Maine have passed an $11 million bond measure to fund a research consortium led by the University of Maine to develop deep-water offshore wind platforms.

29 July 2010

The Advanced Structures and Composites Center of the university is adapting oil industry techniques to model floating turbine platforms that will be launched at a testing site.

The federal government's Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, visiting the university shortly after the announcement, said that the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shows why the US must make new strides in developing offshore wind power.