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Print Edition StoriesMonday, July 20, 2009
Maine directs $1.25M of federal funds to alternative energy
By Mass High Tech staff
Following the Clean Energy Council Fellows
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Two alternative energy projects in Maine are expected to receive a total of $1.25 million from the federal Energy and Water Appropriations bill.
The University of Maine, and its partners, will take on $1 million to finance tidal power projects and $250,000 to support composite wind blade manufacturing technology.
Maine’s tidal power projects would include measurements of environmental factors, such as noise, vibration and sea life, and enable emission-free power generation. The efforts could help bolster a technology cluster in the state centered around ocean energy research and development, add 250 jobs within five years and contribute about $1 billion in statewide investments in five to seven years, according to a release last week from federal officials in Washington.
The $250,000 funding will be used to help transfer the manufacturing of wind blades from Asia and South America to the U.S. by investing, for example, in robotics processing for quicker, cheaper production. Among the manufacturing plans are 5 gigawatts of offshore wind building in 10 to 20 years, with statewide production of wind blades, through local companies and the University of Maine, estimated at $2 billion. On shore, Maine stands to produce $660 million worth of composite blades by 2020, the timeline to meet the governor’s goal of 3,000 megawatts of land-based wind outlined by the Wind Energy Task Force Report.
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