On Wednesday, May 8, the University of Maine presented the base for its 1/8 scale prototype of a 6MW VolturnUS wind turbine, which is planned for a project off Maine’s coast by 2030.
The floating wind turbine platform will be disassembled and transported to Cianbro in Brewer by the end of the month. It will be reassembled when the time comes to put the whole wind turbine prototype off the coast of Castine, Bangor Daily News reports.
Maine Maritime Academy will haul the VolturnUS prototype to the position at the beginning of June and the entire system is scheduled to be put into operation by June 3.
Habib Dagher, director of the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, said that the location off Castine is ideal for testing the system because of the height of waves there, which are about 1/8 of the height of those in the Gulf of Maine, Bangor Daily News writes.
This prototype represents a testing phase for a project off the Maine’s coastline that will comprise around 170 floating wind turbines with an overall capacity of 5MW. The first full-scale floating wind turbine is expected to be installed in 2016.
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Offshore WIND Staff, May 10, 2013; Image: DeepCWind