East Coast Battles West Coast For Offshore Floating Wind Title

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At an estimated 2.8 terawatts, floating offshore wind has the potential to satisfy more than twice the current electricity demand of the US, putting fossil-powered generation to bed once and for all. On the West Coast, California has emerged as the leading hotspot for floating wind development but they better keep moving because the East Coast state of Maine is determined to come out ahead.

The Race For Floating Wind Turbines

Floating wind technology has emerged as a solution for harvesting wind energy from water that is too deep for conventional offshore turbines, which sit on top of long steel tubes called monopiles, pounded into the seabed. Instead, floating wind turbines sit on platforms anchored to the seabed by slim cables.

That’s not quite as simple as it may seem. Among other challenges, cost has been a significant obstacle. Still, the US Department of Energy began offering support to floating wind innovators during the Obama administration, with the offshore wind firm Principle Power being one leading recipient. Now all that hard work is beginning to pay off, at least in other parts of the world. Principle Power, for example, is the firm behind the Hywind offshore array in Scotland (see more floating turbine background here).

As for when the first floating wind turbines will set sail in US waters, that depends on where the East Coast – West Coast race ends up. In July the California Energy Commission adopted a formal roadmap that recounts, in excruciating detail, all the pieces that need to fall into a place before construction can begin, indicating that years of planning and preparation are in store.

Maine Wants Floating Offshore Wind

Meanwhile, Maine may skip ahead with a plan of its own. Most of the East Coast is suitable for monopile offshore wind farms, but the notoriously rough-and-tumble coastline of Maine requires floating turbines. Earlier this year the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which administers offshore lease area sales, noted that the deep waters of Maine could yield 15 gigawatts’ worth of floating wind energy.

As the agency responsible for designating the lease areas, BOEM has already done part of the homework. “The proposed sales reflect a multi-year planning process that has included robust engagement with Tribes, local communities, federal and state agencies, ocean users, and stakeholders to balance the complex social, ecological, and economic factors,” BOEM explains.

“In identifying these areas, BOEM prioritized avoidance of offshore fishing grounds and identification of vessel transit routes, while retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals. These efforts are designed to set an informed foundation to deconflict multiple ocean uses in areas of future offshore wind energy development,” BOEM added.

A Floating Wind Experiment Takes Shape

Despite all the groundwork, proposals to send wind turbines floating into the Gulf of Maine have met with opposition. BOEM and its allies, though, seem just as determined to see something happen. On August 20, the office announced that it has executed the first ever research lease for a floating offshore wind array. “The lease area covers a little under 15,000 acres located 28 nautical miles offshore Maine on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and could allow for the deployment of up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines capable of generating up to 144 megawatts of renewable energy,” BOEM explained.

Whether or not that will help speed things up remains to be seen. However, advocates for the project appear hopeful that it will attract more supporters than detractors. Rather than narrowly serving the renewable energy goals of Maine alone, the 12-turbine array is being pitched as a research opportunity that will accelerate additional floating wind farm development elsewhere in the US, helping to push the energy transition into high gear.

In a press statement, Maine Governor Janet Mills underscored the over-arching goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Mills has positioned Maine as a national leader on climate action, and her administration has emphasized the economic benefits of ending the state’s dependence on “expensive, harmful fossil fuels” in favor of “homegrown, renewable energy sources.” If all goes according to plan, the offshore wind project will become part of a long (long) list of decarbonization initiatives adopted during her tenure.

Who Will Be America’s Next Top Floating Wind Turbine?

As for what kind of wind turbines will head out to the Gulf of Maine, that’s a good question. As a research array, the new offshore project could be expected to host a new generation of floating wind turbines.

If you’re guessing that a longstanding wind turbine research project at the University of Maine will come into play, that’s a good guess. Long before Mills took office, the University of Maine was already positioning itself to grab the pole position on floating wind R&D in the US through the development of a new semi-submersible concrete hull called VolturnUS. By 2015, the school was making plans to deploy the hull — eventually — in a 500-megawatt wind farm in the Gulf of Maine under the umbrella of the Maine Aqua Ventus project.

The project is still active in its current iteration of New England Aqua Ventus. Stakeholders have indicated that a full-scale test at a research site is the next step, leading to the realization of Governor Mills’s near-term goal for 3 gigawatts’ worth of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.

Bigger Is Better

That will take some time. Even if the VolturnUS makes the cut for the newly approved research array, BOEM advises that construction will not begin for several years. “The lessee is first required to submit a Research Activities Plan to BOEM, which will undergo environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. Additional details on the timing of construction will become clearer as the permitting process progresses,” BOEM explains.

Meanwhile, other floating offshore wind turbine innovators are hard at work. Last Spring the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced the five finalists advancing to the last phase of its “FLOWIN” competition, aimed at pushing new floating platform systems into the market. The somewhat awkward acronym stands for American-Made FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess.

The FLOWIN competition is based on the premise that the next generation of floating wind turbines will be much larger than the turbines deployed in monopile construction. As described by NREL, new floating turbines could be the largest human-built structures ever made.

That means a whole new supply chain is in order. The FLOWIN competition aims at teasing out innovators that are best prepared to set the supply chain wheels in motion, with domestic sourcing a priority.

Among teams selected to continue into the final round is California-based FloatHOME, which deploys the latest iteration of Principle Power’s familiar three-columned WindFloat platform. Two other finalists also deploy a three-column design, the Houston firm Technip Energies and the Boston firm Tetra Triple-One.

Two different approaches are illustrated by PelaStar, a Seattle-based team assembled under the umbrella of the maritime engineering firm Glosten, and WHEEL-US, the stateside branch of a European consortium that is developing a circular floating platform stabilized by ballast tanks.

Phase 3 closes in April next year. If you have an idea about which team will get the winning prize, drop a note in the comment thread.

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Image (cropped): From California to Maine, the race to build vast arrays of offshore floating wind turbines is finally taking shape after years of R&D (graphic by Besiki Kazaishvili, NREL).