French industrial group DCNS has agreed to support the University of Maine’s 12MW floating offshore wind pilot project New England Aqua Ventu.
Other project partners are UMaine Advanced Structures, Composites Centre, Emera, and Cianbro.
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The consortium has formed a collaborative team to develop, build, and operate the project, which will receive up to $39.9m in funding from the US Department of Energy.
DCNS’ marine renewable energy director Fre´de´ric Le Lidec said: "We are very proud to be part of the winning consortium and we look forward to bringing DCNS expertise to this outstanding project."
The project intends to deploy two 6MW turbines in the Monhegan Island Test Site in Maine state waters to help develop a clean renewable energy source in the region.
Emera’s project lead Paul Laberge said: "Floating offshore wind has potential be an innovative renewable energy solution, which generates local economic development opportunities.
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By GlobalData"The project has a breadth of leadership, capable of developing an idea from concept to installation and operation."
The Aqua Ventus project features a floating hull design, which has been tested on 1:8 scale prototype VolturnUS in Castine, Maine.
Both the hull and turbine were tested for 19 months from installation in June 2013 to removal in late November 2014.
