The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Maine and its partners a $ 984 million grant to develop wind and wave simulators that will help research better capture renewable energy off the Gulf of Maine.
The grant was award to the University of Maine, Maine Maritime Academy, the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The development will be the first of its kind and is not available anywhere else in the country. It has been named W².
W² will be multi-directional and use open jet wind tunnels positioned over a deep wave basin. The project will be designed so wind and wave conditions can be programmed into it to simulate conditions experienced in the Gulf of Maine and beyond.
It is hoped that the project will help developments in many areas of renewable energy as well as making the capture of renewable energy more efficient. It should provide more research for floating offshore wind turbines. In addition, the simulator should offer a better understanding of wind and waves enabling researchers to optimise old structures and better construct new infrastructure.
“Researchers at the University of Maine and their world-class partners have demonstrated ingenuity in seeking new ways to capture Maine’s abundant supply of offshore deepwater wind energy through the launch of the nation’s first grid-connected offshore floating wind turbine prototype in May,” Senators Susan Collins and Angus King said in a joint statement. “The construction of the Wind-Wave generating system will provide students and scientists with invaluable information regarding the ocean’s interaction with offshore infrastructure as they seek to build on their already considerable achievements.”
The simulator will also be used by students and offshore oil and gas companies to better understand the oceans interaction with certain objects and environmental factors – oil spill companies will be able to simulate offshore conditions and find better management solutions should an oil spill occur.
The system will be located in the Wave Wind Laboratory, a new addition to the Advanced Structures and Composites Center on the UMaine campus.