RenewNewEngland.com

Maine Ocean Energy Task Force Submits Final Report

The Maine Ocean Energy Task Force  submitted its final report (pdf) with detailed appendices (pdf), to Governor Baldacci on December 31, 2009.  (We discussed earlier drafts of this proposal in this previous post.)

OETF Co-Chairperson Beth Nagusky, Director of Innovation and Assistance at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, has indicated that The Governor's Office will submit draft legislation to implement the OETF recommendations early in the legislative session.
Key findings of the Report include recommendations that Maine:

• Make a major commitment to development of offshore wind, tidal, and wave power;
• Commit to a goal of installation of 5 gigawatts (5,000 megawatts) of offshore wind energy generating capacity in Maine’s coastal waters and adjoining federal waters by 2030, and to a goal of timely and efficient development of tidal energy resources at optimal locations in Maine’s coastal waters, including but not limited to those in the Passamaquoddy Bay region;
• Improve the siting, permitting and governance framework for renewable ocean energy development;
• Move aggressively to support strengthening Maine's current out-dated transmission and distribution infrastructure, incorporating smart-grid technologies, and explicitly recognize in law the need for new transmission and distribution capacity to achieve the State’s wind power and energy conversion goals; and
• Support the financing and development of renewable energy goals by requiring the Maine Public Utilities to issue a Request for Proposal for renewable ocean energy generation where the rate impact is reasonable.

For more information about the Ocean Energy Task Force and offshore development opportunities in Maine, contact Pierce Atwood's Lib Butler.  

Testing the Wind

Today, in accordance with LD 1465 (pdf), “An Act To Facilitate Testing and Demonstration of Renewable Ocean Energy Technology,” Maine’s Governor Baldacci announced the final selection of three offshore wind energy demonstration areas in Maine.  (The four site finalists were announced in October 2009, as discussed in this previous post.)

One of the three sites, located near Monhegan Island, is designated as the “Maine Offshor Energy Research Center,” which will be used for research and development projects run by (or in cooperation with) the University of Maine.

The other two sites – off Boon Island near York and off Damariscove Island near Boothbay - are available for R&D projects by commercial entities.  To obtain a permit for a project in one of these sites, a company must first apply for a general permit for offshore wind energy demonstration project under 38 MRS §480-HH from the Department of Environmental Protection.

With a MDEP general permit approval in hand, the company must then apply for a submerged lands lease from the Department of Conservation.  Because these sites are designated for research and development uses rather than permanent, commercial installations, permits for the Boon Island and Damariscove Island sites will good for five years from the date they were granted or three years from the date construction starts (with certain term extensions available); in applying for the permit, applicants must provide a project removal plan that details how they will remove the project at the end of the permit period.

More details about the demonstration areas, including interactive maps of the designated areas, are available at the Department of Conservation site.

This site selection process complements the work of the Ocean Energy Task Force and its recommendations concerning legislation to make near-shore and off-shore sites available for both R&D and ultimately commercial renewable energy projects.  The draft final report of the OETF can be found here. 

Offshore (Data) Mining

Together with Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe has introduced the Renewable Energy Environmental Research Act of 2009 (pdf).  The proposed legislation aims to coordinate the collection and dissemination of environmental data so crucial to the development of marine energy resources.  Under the proposed bill, $100M would be appropriated to NOAA each year 2010 through 2014, with the requirement that up to 50% of the funds would be made available to educational institutions and to states with federally-approved coastal zone management programs (pdf). 

As shown on this interactive map, every New England state (other than Vermont,  which lacks a seacoast) is already working with NOAA on coastal and ocean management issues.  Of course, as Senator Snowe’s press release suggests, the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, which has partnered with Norway’s StatoilHydro to investigate the potential of off-shore wind, would be a natural recipient for this kind of funding.  (For more on this program, see our previous post.)  But with multiple off-shore energy projects in various stages of development in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the impact of this bill would be felt throughout the region.

The environmental data covered by the proposed legislation is of great interest to environmental advocates, who want to make sure off-shore development won’t cause unreasonable harm to the habitats where they’re built.  The data is also of critical importance to developers – and their potential investors - who have been calling (pdf) for the refinement, integration and standardization of this kind of environmental data in order to minimize the risks associated with both permitting these projects and their eventual productivity.