A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded offshore wind demonstration project proposed for deployment off the coast of Maine achieved a major milestone on December 9, 2019, when Maine Aqua Ventus I and Central Maine Power Company signed the project’s 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The state’s Public Utilities Commission approved the PPA in November, 2019. This allows the demonstration project to sell its electricity to the Central Maine Power utility, making it the first DOE-funded offshore wind demonstration project to achieve this milestone. The University of Maine’s Aqua Ventus I project has been in the planning phase since 2012, and securing a power offtake agreement will help the project attract financial investors and continue further development activities.
Upcoming Events
December 19, 2019
Register now for the FOA Webinar scheduled to take place on Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. EST.
The webinar will cover:
- Federal SBIR/STTR Programs
- DOE SBIR/STTR Technology Areas
- DOE SBIR/STTR Application and Award Process as it relates to the FY20 Phase I Release 2 FOA
- Questions & Answers
In Case You Missed It
Funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project is part of the distributed wind portfolio of investments aimed at enabling wind technology to be an affordable, accessible, and compatible distributed energy resource (DER). DERs are increasingly used by individuals, businesses, and communities to cost-effectively build resilient infrastructure and enhance the capabilities of local distribution grid operations.
This collaborative research project—which includes DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Idaho National Laboratory—uses a high-speed data link to leverage nearly a billion dollars’ worth of research capabilities and DER infrastructure across the four laboratories. This enables research, development, and industry validation of DER components and hybrid energy systems across multiple scales and configurations in geographically diverse operating conditions.
A key component of the MIRACL project is collaboration, not only among DOE’s National Labs, but also with the electric utility, wind, microgrid, and DER industries to advance state-of-the-art technology. To learn more about MIRACL and opportunities for collaboration, read the factsheet.
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