Main’s floating offshore wind setback: What’s next?

When the platform for a prototype floating offshore wind turbine reached a dock on April 11, the Main University engineers were ready to add a tower and a turbine and set it to the Bay of Main. The prototype, called Volturnus+, was the 1: 4 scale model of the 15-Magawat version, and its deployment would mark only the second wind turbine to swim in the American water.

But on the same day, university officials received a letter from the US Energy Department Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-e) saying that it was “suspending all activity” at $ 12.6 million grant of the project “. The move left the university’s 375-tone concrete hull to snatch the dockside and its creators to snatch the situation.

Volturnus+ is one of many offshore wind projects, delays or killed in the United States since the second inauguration of President Trump. Back on its first day in the office, Trump signed an executive order, freezing all permissions of the offshore wind projects, which affected almost all who were not still under construction. And in an unprecedented step, the President worked on an offshore wind farm on 16 April, which was already being built before the New York coast before the order was withdrawn last week.

In response, wind developers are pulling back on American projects. Multinational Pawan REWE Prevented Work on its entire 6-gigawat US portfolioCiting “political environment”.

Upheaval Floating winds like Volturnus+can prove to be particularly disastrous for projects. Floating turbines are designed to perform offshore work from far away water in water to anchor turbine towers on sea floors, and the escakening industry has so far installed a single commercial turbine on a single commercial scale in American water.

Trump’s effect on temporary air

Tokyo based Mitsubishi corporation There could have been a US first in March, work on it was stopped: a 12-tabine, 144-megawat floating ,The research array “Portland” was planned for a location in 50 km east of Main. The company “cited recent changes in the energy landscape, especially, caused uncertainty in the offshore wind industry. ,

Main policy maker is relying on Mitsubishi Research array To jump in temporary air growth and thus the energy of the state protect the infection and coastal economies. These small floating arrays serve as a testband to help Gigawatt-Skele projects come and provide an opportunity to join with stakeholders. “itImportant because technology is still relatively immature, “says Steve ClaimerDirector of Energy Research in the Union of concerned scientists. “YouHe says, “They say that by impacting the fishing industry and wildlife, especially related to the Mooreing System, began to demonstrate technology.

In fact, Developers of a California floating performance project, CadmoWas closely watching the progress of the main. FThe only offshore wind option of the US Pacific Coast to bring turbines is due to its deep water.

In response to the federal protest of wind development, proposals of floating technology are taking a variety of strategies. For Volturnus+ team, leaving their massively The concrete platform tied to a dock must have been unsafe and financially ruined, says Habib DagarExecutive Director of Main University‘S Advanced structures and composite centers Orono and Volturnus+ co-Director. He says, “If you get the weather then you are going to destroy the ghat. And we were paying fees to stay at the ghat – people who cannot tolerate too,” they say.

Dagher’s team worked adequately together What is the need to do cash from industry partners and state funds: Take the tower and turbine on stage and then move the package to your planned test site, which is about 600 meters from the coast of Casteine, Main. This was the only viable option, says Dagar. “We had no choice but to find an emergency fund to get it out,” he says.

This was the only viable option, says Dagar. “We had no choice but to find an emergency fund to get it out,” he says.

For Mitsubishi, challenges appear more wider than the American political atmosphere, and the international group is responding by killing the pause button. It in February Prevented Three traditional offshore wind projects in Japan, including “physical changes in macroeconomic environment”, including war in Ukraine, including depreciation of the yen and tight supply chains.

However, California is putting pressure on. In February, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed an investment of $ 228 million to prepare ports for the construction of the expected leading wind farm in the next decade. And in March, the state of California awarded the Long Beach port to $ 20 million and Humbold’s port to promote public engagement and to conduct necessary studies for permit filing.

“They‘Then was not pulling back the money which was previously allocated to the offshore air. They are clinging to the course, ”says Matte semensClimate lawyer for the Environmental Protection Information Center, an Arcata, California. Based non-profitable.

Of course, California can do so much without only federal cooperation. Cadmo performance The nearby Wandenberg Space Force Base is expected to sell its power on the Central Coast, California. They also need green lights from the American National Ocean and atmospheric administration, which Nominated a national maritime sanctuary In October, which spreads the site of Cadmo.

What are the next stages for Volturnus+?

Volturnus+ floating turbine is a follower for its very small volternus test turbine, which was a semi-subsidized montage of the Pontoon Beam and the plotation column. In creating Volturnus+, the Main University streamlined the design to a low cost – it is essentially a bargain that sits on top of the water. On their own, the barge is less stable, but Dagar says that his team made the design workable by inspiring large -scale measures to combat earthquakes in large -scale earthquakes. “You refuse the speed of the earthquake by furthering the mass to oppose the movements of the earthquake,” they explain.

In the case of Volturnus+, mass transfer within each RudderThe weapons crossed the tilting forces with winds and waves. Based on A 2023 patent filingThat mass can be sea water. The resulting stability reduced the size of the float. Combined with ease of construction relative to construction, design changes cut the cost of platform by 20 to 30 percent, Dagar says.

A letter of suspension to Main University of ARPA-E alleged “Failure to comply with one or more” federal policies. When asked for comment on the case, a spokesman for ARPA-E referred to Spectrum US Department of Energy (DOE), and DOE did not respond SpectrumInquiries of The university says that it is “in line with all states and federal laws, and has terms of federal grants and contracts.”

Thanks to the emergency fund, Full Volturnus+ Test Rig is now molested in 21 meters of water. The next step for the project leaders is to install a power cable that connects Turbine to the onshore grid – a project that they expect to complete in the next two to three months. Dagar says that the turbine will operate up to 18 months to evaluate the stability of the platform. But, provided in a statement SpectrumThe university says that, without re-starting the ARPA-E funds, the researchers will have the ability to analyze the results and prepare commercialization plans.

The university of main In mid -May announced that it would shut down nine people In the advanced structures and composite centers of Dagher, citing “unexpected stagnation and delay in federal funds”.