Cost of Floating Offshore Wind Energy Using New England Aqua Ventus Concrete Semisubmersible Technology

Abstract: The State of Maine has a technical electricity generation potential from offshore wind of up to 411 terawatt-hours/year. Up to 88% of the state's offshore wind generation potential is in deep waters, thereby requiring floating offshore wind technology to access this resource. Given competing coastal uses, it is likely all the viable offshore wind energy resource is over waters deeper than 60 meters. However, relative to the 11.21 terawatt-hours of electric consumption by Maine (consumed in 2017), the technical offshore wind resource potential is abundant. This report provides cost, technological, and resource data for floating offshore wind technology deployment at a hypothetical reference site representative of conditions in the Gulf of Maine.