As the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) continues to advance the Maine Offshore Wind Initative on a number of fronts, we wanted to update you on a few items and make sure you know how to engage if you are interested.
GEO is launching an offshore wind educational webinar series for all interested parties. Our first webinar is scheduled for next Friday:
Friday, February 26th from 10-11:15 am: Building Our Understanding of the Current Offshore Wind Floating Technology & Cable Laying and Maintenance with Walt Musial, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Joel Whitman, Global Marine Group. The presentations and discussion will provide additional information on floating wind technology as well as marine cable installation and maintenance. You can register here and find the agenda here.
All webinars will be recorded and available on our website, which we’ll continue to update as additional webinars are confirmed.
Early this month, GEO held a half day workshop on Maine’s floating offshore wind research array proposal to advance the stakeholder engagement process that was attended by more than 200 participants. The workshop provided information on offshore wind technology and provided a forum to discuss siting criteria, introduce available data sets to inform siting, and explore ways to approach research priorities. The Feb. 5th meeting recording and materials are available online.
The next step in the state’s floating offshore wind research array stakeholder process will be a series of work sessions on data, siting, and research approaches that will begin sometime in March. The work sessions will be split into two tracks: fishing and wildlife. All interested in parties are invited to attend and the meetings will be open to the public. You can find more about the work sessions here. Email offshorewind@maine.gov if you would like to join a work session. Meeting registration details will be sent to those who sign up for the work sessions and will be posted on our website and the state’s public meeting calendar.
In addition to the work sessions, GEO and other state agencies welcome the opportunity to hear your thoughts, concerns, and ideas on siting and research priorities related to the research array as well as additional ways to engage stakeholders. Please feel free to email offshorewind@maine.gov or reach out to Meredith Mendelson (DMR), Amanda Cross (IFW), or me (GEO).
Please let us know if you have any questions or want more information.