The University of Maine plans to launch an experimental floating wind turbine in the next week, less than a month after the Trump administration cut funding for the project.
The floating platform and turbine is a quarter-scale model of Volturn U.S. technology developed at the university's advanced composites and structures center. Officials and supporters say full-size versions could form a new energy industry harnessing powerful winds in the Gulf of Maine.
But the program was dealt a blow by an April 11 letter from the Department of Energy suspending a $12.5 million award and ordering a halt to work on the array. The agency claimed the university failed to comply with the terms of its award, but did not cite any specific violation.
The project suspension came just hours after a 375-ton floating concrete hull was towed into Searsport, where it was due to have its turbines, blades and equipment installed.
But the university was able to use industry partnership revenue and state funds to complete construction, said spokesperson Samantha Warren.
About $8.5 million from the award had already been invested in the project before funding was suspended Warren added.
The array is scheduled to be towed to a site offshore Castine in the next week. It will remain moored there for 18 months, collecting data on how its specialized hull technology reduces wind and wave impacts, along with other information.
The university has, however, scaled back its planned research on the data funded by the federal award, including how to commercialize the technology.
"Throughout the demonstration project’s development and deployment, it will enable hands-on experiential learning for UMaine students and industry, growing the size and skill of the state’s engineering and clean energy workforce," Warren said in a statement.
Grant Provost, business manager for Ironworkers Local 7 said union workers helped build the turbine. And he is heartened that Maine advanced the project despite significant headwinds from President Trump's administration, which ordered a halt to offshore wind development and even blocked a fully approved development in New York from moving ahead.
Despite setbacks in the U.S., other countries are expanding offshore wind to provide renewable power and reduce greenhouse gas pollution, Provost said.
"Whatever we can do, small victories here and there to move in the same direction as our counterparts across the world is going to be beneficial for humanity and the environment here," he said.
The energy department did not respond to a request for comment.
