Energy secretary to visit UMaine
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is scheduled to visit the University of Maine next month to learn more about its offshore wind energy research.
Sen. Susan Collins invited Chu to Maine June 14 for a tour of UMaine's AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center and to learn more about the state's plans for designing and testing floating deepwater wind turbines, according to a press release from Collins' office. UMaine last year was chosen to receive up to $8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund an offshore wind test center, after Chu met in Washington, D.C., with Habib Dagher, director of the composites center. In December, the state picked three coastal spots as test sites for offshore wind technology, one of which near Monhegan Island is reserved for the university's research. UMaine is planning to design and deploy two 10-kilowatt and one 100-kW floating turbine prototypes.
Collins, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has requested at least $20 million be set aside in the 2011 energy and water appropriations bill for the development of deepwater offshore wind technology.
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