Utilities Unitil, National Grid and Eversource Energy on June 29 issued a request for proposals for 400 MW of Massachusetts offshore wind generation, but up to 800 MW will be allowed if the utilities can demonstrate significantly more economic benefit.
As Massachusetts pushes to build the first U.S. utility-scale offshore wind farm, south of Martha’s Vineyard, it is competing with Maryland to become a domestic contractor supply chain hub.
Maine lawmakers on May 10 unanimously rejected a bill that would have killed a University of Maine 12-MW floating offshore wind test project by moving it from a planned site three miles off Monhegan Island to at least seven miles offshore.
The over-ambitious Cape Wind offshore farm in Massachusetts hit a wall after 15 years, but developers now see new ways to boost water-based wind in the U.S. power mix.
Renewable generation is expected to account for about two-thirds of the 24 GW of energy capacity the U.S. added in 2016, and industry observers don’t expect alternative-energy additions to fall in coming years, despite changed political winds.
A floating light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system developed at the University of Maine has successfully completed a new deployment performance test 12 miles off the Maine coast in 65 meters of water.