Statoil NA, a subsidiary of the Norway-based international energy utility, has applied for the lease under Bureau of Ocean Energy Management federal 30 CFR regulations. The area requested is in the Gulf of Maine.
It is the next step towards establishing a pilot offshore project, the Hywind Maine Pilot, using the world’s first floating turbine design, which has already been tested by Statoil at full scale in Norway.
The chosen offshore site has good wind resources and is close to possible onshore connection points with the New England electrical grid. Metocean studies of the area have already been undertaken by the US Department of Energy.
The University of Maine, which also has an offshore test site in the area, published the Maine Deepwater Offshore Wind Report in February 2011.
A towing route from a sheltered inshore assembly site to the proposed 57.5 square kilometre (22 square mile) lease area 15km (12 nautical miles) from shore has been identified.
