A lot of public concern and interest is being generated over the potential for offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Maine. While demonstration projects are being planned in state and federal waters, many wonder about the scale and effects of commercial wind energy development in future years. Too soon to tell is the ultimate answer to this big question, but some sense of what could be in the works, and when and how, is possible.

The energy policy of 2005 gave the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regulatory authority over alternate energy production on the outer continental shelf. In October, Statoil, a multi-national energy corporation, submitted an unsolicited request to the Bureau to lease a 22 square mile area in the Gulf of Maine, about 12 nautical miles offshore of Boothbay Harbor for wind development. The Gulf of Maine lease area is just one of many sites along the Atlantic coast that are being pursued or studied for offshore wind energy production.

Statoil proposes to construct a four-turbine floating wind pilot park, Hywind Maine, at the Gulf of Maine lease site. The pilot park’s footprint is estimated to cover about three square miles of the lease area. Statoil will use the pilot park to refine wind energy technology, with the long-term goal of developing commercial wind ventures. Statoil’s Hywind Maine proposal follows on their successful one-turbine floating wind pilot project off Norway.

Statoil is concurrently pursuing a similar floating pilot park proposal in offshore waters off Scotland. In a meeting in Boothbay Harbor on Friday, Statoil representative Kari Hege Mork said the company’s decision whether to pursue a pilot park off Maine, Scotland, or at both sites, would be made by the second quarter of this year.

From the federal regulatory perspective, planning for the Hywind Maine proposal has begun but is somewhat constrained until Statoil fully commits to the project. The Bureau has convened a task force of federal, state and local agencies to share information and define questions and concerns, as the Hywind Maine proposal unfolds. If Statoil pursues the Hywind Maine project, the Bureau would have to complete an environmental impact statement, which addresses the environmental and socioeconomic effects of the proposal, and hold public hearings. The Bureau also must determine whether there are other “competitive interests” for the lease area. Statoil has stated that if they decide to pursue the Hywind Maine option, they hope to secure a lease by 2014 and begin construction as early as 2016.

Mork said that Statoil’s goal of commercial floating wind parks might be achieved as early as 2020. She emphasized that there are no specific plans at present, however, and that Statoil could site its commercial venture at a location other than its pilot park. From other offshore wind parks, she suggested a commercial wind venture might produce 300-500 megawatts and perhaps go as high as 1,000 megawatts.

For perspective on size, Statoil is currently in the process of developing an 88-turbine, 315 megawatt stationary wind park off the United Kingdom. This Sheringham Shoal project has a footprint of about 13 square miles and will generate enough energy to power 220,000 homes.

Ken Fletcher of the Maine Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security stressed on Saturday that offshore wind energy development in Maine is still in its research and development phase. Fletcher said that permitting Statoil’s pilot park alone would take years and that commercial development was years beyond that. He also noted that the pilot park would provide essential data on the technology and its environmental effects that cannot be gathered in any other way.

In state waters, the University of Maine’s Deep C Wind Consortium is continuing with its plan to build a less than one-third scale wind turbine about three miles off Monhegan Island for research purposes.