AUGUSTA, Maine — The University of Maine is getting more federal funding for a floating platform to support up to a 12-megawatt wind turbine.
The grant, announced Wednesday, is expected to be worth about $5 million for UMaine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
The center already has developed smaller floating hulls to support 6-megawatt turbines to be placed off the coast of Monhegan Island. That pilot project, dubbed Aqua Ventus, is viewed as a major test for floating wind turbine technology.
The new funding announcement was made Wednesday during the American Wind Energy Association Offshore WINDPOWER Conference in Boston.
Offshore wind power projects stalled under former Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
But Democratic Gov. Janet Mills directed the Maine Public Utilities Commission to approve a contract to get the project back on track.
