A Boston company that is developing wind turbines capable of operating in deeper waters is eyeing the coast of Maine for a large wind-energy project.
Representatives of Blue H USA have been talking with state leaders about their plans to locate a complex of wind turbines somewhere in the Gulf of Maine.
An exact location has not been selected yet, Blue H officials said, but any site likely would be far enough at sea so that the large turbines would not be visible from land.
"What we're trying to do is focus in and find an appropriate location in the state of Maine that will have minimal impact on the fisheries and the environment," Raymond Dackerman, general manager for the company, said Thursday.
Maine is rapidly becoming one of the East Coast's premier destinations for wind energy. To date, all of the projects that have been approved or proposed in Maine are land-based.
But experts estimate more than 100,000 megawatts of potential wind energy is available for tapping in the Gulf of Maine, where the resource blows strong and steady year round. By comparison, all homes and businesses in Maine eat up about 2,200 megawatts of electricity at peak usage on a hot summer day.
The challenge has been developing technology capable of operating in deep waters.
Blue H USA claims to have developed and patented a turbine that is shorter and lighter than most land-based industrial turbines yet produces more power. The turbines sit on a floating platform modeled after technology used with oil and gas drilling platforms.
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