VolturnUS

University of Maine's VolturnUS 1:8 was the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine in the Americas. The VolturnUS design utilizes a concrete semisubmersible floating hull and a composite materials tower designed to reduce both capital and Operation & Maintenance costs, and to allow local manufacturing. The VolturnUS technology is the culmination of more than a decade of collaborative research and development conducted by the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center-led DeepCwind Consortium.[1]

The VolturnUS is a floating concrete structure that supports a wind turbine, designed by University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center and deployed by DeepCwind Consortium in 2013. The VolturnUS can support wind turbines in water depths of 150 ft (46 m) or more. The DeepCwind Consortium and its partners deployed a 1:8 scale VolturnUS in 2013. Efforts are now underway by Maine Aqua Ventus 1, GP, LLC, to deploy to full-scale VolturnUS structures off the coast of Monhegan Island, Maine, in the UMaine Deepwater Offshore Wind Test Site. This demonstration project, known as New England Aqua Ventus I, is planned to deploy two 6 MW wind turbines by 2020.[2]

The University of Maine announced in September 2017 that its VolturnUS design became the first floating offshore wind turbine to meet American Bureau of Shipping requirements for floating offshore wind turbines, demonstrating the feasibility of the VolturnUS concept.[3] The design review was conducted against the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Guide for Building and Classing Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Installations.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference cbsnews.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Floating Offshore Wind In Maine - Advanced Structures & Composites Center - University of Maine". Advanced Structures & Composites Center. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  3. ^ "UMaine's VolturnUS Passes ABS Review". Advanced Structures & Composites Center. 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  4. ^ admin. "Rules & Guides". ww2.eagle.org. Retrieved 2017-09-18.