July 16, 2021 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance has another grant from the federal government to bring experts together on how the big push for developing offshore wind power will affect U.S. fisheries.
The latest $155,000 award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will fund a second “Synthesis of the Science” symposium, this time on how floating offshore wind turbine may interact with fisheries.
It follows on a $150,000 grant the agency awarded to RODA – a coalition of commercial fishing groups and communities – in 2020 to conduct a first-of-its-kind symposium on the current science regarding fisheries and offshore wind interactions.
RODA says the next session will focus specifically on floating wind turbines – now foreseen as the offshore wind industry’s future frontier for waters beyond the shallow outer continental shelf.
Maine state energy planners see huge potential power coming from the windswept Gulf of Maine, and propose a test area for floating turbines anchored in deep water. Maine has started planning to apply for a lease from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for that project.
Meanwhile BOEM is working closely with the administration of California Gov. Gavin Newsom to plan floating turbine arrays off the West Coast.