MAINE MONITOR • January 25, 2025
News reports last week detailed President Donald Trump’s efforts to derail offshore wind energy in the United States. But in an undisclosed location in Trenton, contractors are putting the finishing touches on a 375-ton concrete structure aimed at putting Maine back in the global race to design cost-effective platforms for the next era of ocean energy — commercial, floating offshore wind farms. Trump’s order to pause federal offshore wind leases and permits won’t stop this effort. If all goes as planned, researchers from the University of Maine will launch the 52-foot wide, quarter-scale concrete hull, with a turbine blade reaching 108 feet above the waterline, later this year off Castine. But Maine and the United States have been passed by other countries that have full-scale floating projects at sea and by developers that are ahead in advancing their designs.