The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center and its partners have launched the VolturnUS 1:8 , the first grid connected offshore wind turbine to be deployed off the coast of North America.
The approximately 65 foot tall turbine prototype is 1:8th the scale of a 6MW, 423 foot rotor diameter design. The program goal is to reduce the cost of offshore wind to compete with other forms of electricity generation with no subsidies. The VolturnUS technology is the culmination of more than five years of collaborative research and development conducted by the UMaine led DeepCwind Consortium. The DeepCwind research program is a public private partnership funded by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation Partners for Innovation, the Maine Technology Institute, the state of Maine, the University of Maine and more than 30 industry partners. Data acquired during the 2013 deployments off Castine and Monhegan will be used to optimise the design of UMaine’s patent pending VolturnUS system. The UMaine Composites Center has partnered with industry leaders to invest in a 12 MW, US$ 96 million pilot farm. The deployments this summer will de-risk UMaine’s VolturnUS technology in preparation for connecting the first full scale unit to the grid in 2016.