This page was updated January, 2025
Overview
°Õ³ó±ðÌýState of fb88 launched the in 2019 to explore the development of offshore wind (OSW) energy in the Gulf of fb88 that balances the needs of the state’s maritime industries and the health of the environment.
More information about fb88's OSW initiative and the Offshore Wind Roadmap can be foundÌý
In fb88, plans are taking shape for a research lease that strives to answer critical questions about the impacts of OSW on fishing and the environment prior to commercial development.Ìý
The Ìý(BOEM) is responsible for all renewable energy development in federal waters, including commercial and research offshore wind leases.Ìý On August 19, 2024, the State of fb88 and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) reached an agreement on a floating offshore wind research lease, a significant milestone in the development of offshore wind energy for fb88.
Gulf of fb88 Floating Offshore Wind Research Array
The goal of fb88's offshore wind research lease is to better understand the impacts of OSW on the ecosystem and fisheries in the area. To learn more about how the specific site was chosen for this research lease, goals of the project, or the State’s efforts around offshore wind planning, additional information can be found on the state’s project website.
The State of fb88 through the Governor's Energy Office is the lease applicant for the project, and its development partner,Ìý, will construct and operate the array.
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Going Beyond BOEM Requirements for Surveys and Monitoring
For every OSW lease, BOEM requires studies that evaluate the impact of proposed activities on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources and assess the seafloor and sub-seafloor conditions that could be affected by the construction, installation, and operation of towers, buoys, cables, wind turbines, and supporting structures.
As the lease applicant, theÌýState of fb88Ìýis responsible for submitting to BOEM a plan to conduct the studies and the information gained through the studies.ÌýDiamond Offshore Wind will develop the required plans and studies for BOEM on behalf of the state.
Consistent withÌýrecommendations in the fb88 Offshore Wind Roadmap, the State of fb88 will also go beyond these requirements by conducting additional surveys that produce a more comprehensive evaluation of the research lease area.Ìý
The Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will take the lead on many of the additional surveys on behalf of the state. ÌýSurveys planned by DMR will expand the spatial footprint, duration, frequency, and intensity of studies required by BOEM.
DMR will submit plans and studies to BOEM that are guided by recommendations from the Fisheries Working Group for the fb88 Offshore Wind Roadmap. The Roadmap describes how fb88 can develop offshore wind energy with minimal impacts to the marine ecosystem, coastal communities, and ocean users.
Pre-construction surveys will gather baseline data on local oceanographic conditions, resource abundance and distribution, and relationships between resources and ocean conditions. This information can then be compared to the data collected throughout the construction and operation phases of the research array to understand if/how conditions, abundances, distributions, and/or relationships change due to these construction and operation.Ìý
Surveys will include: Oceanographic monitoring; plankton and larval lobster survey; lobster trap survey; seafloor mapping and characterization; bottom trawl survey; active acoustic survey; highly migratory species monitoring; passive acoustic monitoring; visual wildlife survey; ecosystem modeling; and socio-economic and local historical knowledge survey. Ìý
Below is an illustration and table of each survey DMR will be conducting, indicating the type of survey, goal for each survey, and organizations partnering with DMR on the survey work.Ìý
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| Survey | Survey Type | Goal | Partner Organizations |
| Oceanographic Monitoring | Shore-based radar stations | Understand changes in surface water velocity and wind patterns after turbine installation | University of fb88, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
| Glider surveysÌý | Understand water conditions and stratification after turbine installation | University of fb88 | |
| Plankton and larval lobster surveyÌý | Vertical plankton tows | Understand baseline water conditions, stratification, and plankton community composition and distribution and determine if they change during and after turbine installationÌý | Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of fb88, University of Southern fb88Ìý |
| Horizontal neuston towsÌý | To understand baseline larval lobster abundance and distribution and determine if it changes after turbine installationÌý | Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of fb88, University of Southern fb88Ìý | |
| Lobster trap surveyÌý | Ìý | To understand baseline lobster size and sex distribution and movement patterns and determine if it changes during and after turbine installationÌý | Ìý |
| Seafloor mapping and characterizationÌý | MappingÌý | To collect baseline bathymetry dataÌý | Ìý |
| Benthic grab samplingÌý | To understand baseline benthic community and sediment characteristics and determine if they change during or after turbine installationÌý | Ìý | |
| Bottom trawl surveyÌý | Ìý | To evaluate fish and invertebrate community composition in proximity to the seafloor | Ìý |
| Active acoustic surveyÌý | Acoustic survey | To understand baseline fish and invertebrate community composition and movement patterns and determine if they change during or after installationÌý | Gulf of fb88 Research InstituteÌý |
| eDNA samplesÌý | To ground truth acoustic signalsÌý | Gulf of fb88 Research InstituteÌý | |
| Highly migratory species monitoringÌý | TaggingÌý | To understand baseline species abundance and distribution and trophic interactions and determine if they change during or after turbine constructionÌý | University of fb88Ìý |
| Deployment of receiversÌý | To reconstruct broad- and fine-scale distributions and habitat use of the area by highly migratory and benthic fishes before, during, and after turbine installation to determine if there are any changes due to turbine constructionÌý | University of fb88Ìý | |
| Passive acoustic monitoringÌý | Ìý | To identify species and understand baseline abundance, distribution, and movement patterns and ambient noise and determine if they change during or after turbine installationÌý | Ìý |
| Visual wildlife surveyÌý | Ìý | To ground truth passive acoustic data and understand baseline species presence and abundance and determine if they change during or after turbine installationÌý | Ìý |
| Ecosystem modelingÌý | Ìý | To understand how resources and conditions are connected in the ocean ecosystem in the area of the fb88 Research Array and to predict how direct changes from turbine installation may have indirect effectsÌý | University of fb88 |
| Socio-economic and local historical knowledgeÌý | Ìý | To understand current and past uses of the proposed area for the fb88 Research Array and to create a framework for gathering information from ocean usersÌý | University of fb88, fb88 Coast Fishermen’s AssociationÌý |
Questions about the fb88 Research Array can be sent to offshorewind@maine.gov. To sign up for email updates from the Initiative:
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