Yesterday, the Maine Public Utilities Commission discussed Statoil’s plans to moor four turbines in federal waters off the coast of Maine, reports Bangor Daily News.
Two out of three commissioners said they will not support the project if Statoil doesn’t change its proposal to assure that Maine will benefit in the long term from the offshore wind project.
“The commission will issue a procedural order to suggest ways the term sheet could be improved,” said Karen Geraghty, administrative director of the PUC.
“Statoil was hoping for a unanimous conclusion from PUC today to be able to continue maturing the project,” Ola Morten Aanestad, Statoil North America’s vice president for communications, wrote in an email to Bangor Daily News. “We now need to take this information we got today back, and evaluate how we can proceed further.”
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, October 05, 2012; Image: statoil