Maine’s Offshore Wind Trade Is Working – Regardless Of What You’ve got Learn

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The floating offshore wind trade is poised for development with advancing applied sciences and increasing business tasks. Because of the Trump administration’s rejection of renewable vitality, nevertheless, offshore wind proposals within the US appear on first look to be fraught with uncertainty. Maine’s offshore wind trade is transferring alongside properly, although, even when that’s not what you’re listening to within the legacy media.

The truth is, Jack Shapiro, local weather and clear vitality director for the Pure Sources Council of Maine, desires to set the file straight and inform shoppers in regards to the info of offshore wind in Maine.

The State of Maine Governor’s Vitality Workplace proposed a 144 MW floating wind demonstration mission and commenced contract negotiations with the state utilities fee in 2021. It was awarded a lease to fifteen.2 miles within the Gulf of Maine for the analysis array.

In October 2024, 4 business floating offshore wind leases had been offered within the Gulf of Maine. Shapiro explains that this “exceeded expectations and served as a vote of confidence from builders within the long-term viability and promise of offshore wind within the Gulf of Maine.” Apparently, political uncertainty hovered within the background on the time, because the lease sale happened days earlier than the 2024 Presidential elections.

What was well-established was business offshore wind lease areas within the Gulf of Maine are greater than 50 miles from the mainland at their nearest level, won’t be seen from shore, and can have no influence on property values.

Depart The Lights On, Gained’t You?

Responsibly developed offshore wind has the potential to be a giant increase to Maine’s financial system and native communities, Shapiro argues, and aligns with Maine’s greater than 400-year maritime and shipbuilding heritage. Why is that this essential? Nicely, for a lot of causes, however of specific curiosity is the truth that utility invoice financial savings will probably be handed by means of to Maine electrical energy prospects.

It is sensible that Maine’s offshore wind perceptions are largely framed by rules of distributive justice, highlighting the necessity to make sure that the advantages and burdens of its growth are equitably shared throughout Maine’s waterfront communities. If there may be one blatant disconnect between the Trump administration’s dismissal of wind vitality, it’s the truth that strikes to stall progress on offshore wind result in increased electrical energy costs.

For instance, the State of Connecticut estimated that the Trump Administration’s plan to cancel Revolution Wind, which is already 80% accomplished, would value electrical energy prospects throughout New England, together with Maine, $500 million per yr in increased provide prices.

A examine launched in September 2025 confirmed that offshore wind energy would generate huge financial savings throughout high-demand intervals, decrease New England electrical energy costs by 11%, and ship $400 million in wholesale market financial savings in simply three winter months.

An unbiased examine from Could 2025 confirmed that an offshore wind port in Maine would assist greater than 6,000 jobs throughout building, a median of almost 1,000 jobs yearly by means of 2050, and ship whole financial advantages of $6.6 billion. That’s why assist for a brand new offshore wind trade spans from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce to Maine’s labor unions.

Go, Fish

Creating clear understandings about potential impacts Maine’s offshore wind infrastructure to the state’s fishing trade offshore “is important,” Shapiro says, “so any rising impacts could be first averted, then minimized or mitigated.” He suggests the easiest way to keep away from impacts is to find generators away from prime fishing grounds.

Multi-constituent, non-partisan advocacy labored to cross Maine’s 2023 offshore wind invoice, which required that tasks not be positioned in federal Lobster Administration Space 1, the place almost all the Maine-based lobster fleet fish. The provisions within the invoice, plus bipartisan assist from Maine’s Congressional delegation and the Mills Administration, led to the federal authorities excluding LMA1 from business offshore wind leasing, a giant step towards permitting each clear vitality and a vibrant fishing trade to exist within the Gulf of Maine on the identical time.

Shield The Maritime Ecosystem

Local weather change is the best risk going through the greater than 3,000 marine species and birds within the Gulf of Maine, Shapiro outlines, and the very best answer to the existential disaster is to switch polluting fossil fuels with cleaner vitality sources like wind. “Utilizing the very best knowledge and scientific analysis accessible, offshore wind tasks within the Gulf of Maine will probably be held to the best requirements for siting and operations to guard ocean wildlife and ecosystems,” he says. “Builders will probably be required to incorporate sturdy protections for wildlife and the ocean setting for each building and operations.”

In response to pervasive misinformation about whale mortality, Shapiro reminds us that there is no such thing as a scientific proof linking offshore wind and whale deaths. He explains that the best dangers whales face are literally, “vessel strikes, shifting meals species attributable to local weather change, and entanglement with fishing gear.” He continues that there is clear proof, although, that hyperlinks anti-offshore wind teams, misinformation about whale deaths and offshore wind, and fossil fuel-funded assume tanks.

What fossil gasoline firms need their prospects to overlook is that research have proven that clear vitality has considerably decrease lifetime greenhouse gasoline emissions than fossil fuels. Together with supplies, building, gasoline, and decommissioning, wind energy:

• emits 37 instances much less greenhouse gases per unit of energy generated than pure gasoline
• discharges 77 instances much less greenhouse gases than coal
• the present fossil gasoline system is way more harmful to human well being and local weather than wind

Ultimate Ideas

It’s been well-documented that opponents of fresh vitality unfold misinformation, which ends up in “widespread confusion” and fails to deal with “vitality affordability points going through Maine households day-after-day,” Shapiro states. As early as 2023 it was clear that fossil gasoline pursuits had been working with local weather denial assume tanks and group teams to impede offshore wind tasks.

The Gulf of Maine has a number of the strongest and most constant winds on the earth, making it probably the most considerable and promising clear vitality useful resource accessible to us. Maine’s offshore wind trade will probably be changing costly oil-fueled energy vegetation which are fired up in periods of excessive demand.

Somewhat than succumb to the huge quantity of misinformation about Maine’s offshore wind, Shapiro asks shoppers to “hunt down data from trusted sources.” He suggests the very best strategy to social media tales about wind is skepticism. He provides:

We will’t maintain counting on costly fossil fuels to energy our properties and companies. Not solely does it drive up electrical energy costs, it fuels local weather change, which is making the storms and flooding harming our communities worse. Responsibly growing offshore wind will generate the massive quantities of dependable home vitality we have to energy the long run and assist maintain vitality prices inexpensive.