French DCNS joins floating offshore wind project in USA

French naval defence and energy group DCNS today announced it will join the Maine Aqua Ventus I pilot project for a 12 MW floating offshore wind farm near Maine’s shores in the US.

Last month, the US Department of Energy (DoE) announced that this project was one of three eligible projects to receive up to USD 39.9 million (EUR 35.2m) each in funding, in additional funding over three years as part of the construction phase of the Offshore Wind Advanced Technology Demonstration Program.

New England Aqua Ventus project partners include the University of Maine and UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, Emera Inc., Cianbro and now DCNS.

The consortium will develop, construct and operate the installation of two 6-MW floating wind turbines in the Monhegan Island Test Site in Maine state waters.

The floating wind turbine hull design of the Aqua Ventus project has already been tested at a 1:8 scale prototype called VolturnUS in Castine, Maine. The hull and turbine were tested for almost 19 months from deployment in June 2013, to removal in late November 2014. Since then, the University and its partners have made significant progress on the engineering design of the full-scale foundation, by focusing on commercial scale, manufacturing of the foundation and reducing costs.

"We are very proud to be part of the winning consortium and we look forward to bringing DCNS expertise to this outstanding project", said Fredeeric Le Lidec, Marine Renewable Energy Director at DCNS.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.881 )

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