In May, the University of Maine received fantastic news: It is back in the running for a $40 million federal grant to develop an offshore wind prototype off the Maine coast. I would like to congratulate the university and say I could not be more proud of my Republican colleagues in the Maine Senate who made it happen.
Should the university receive the full funding and the project known as Maine Aqua Ventus come to fruition, the potential benefits for Maine would be enormous. Not only would the offshore wind turbines send electricity to the power grid, hundreds of new jobs would come to Maine. If Aqua Ventus is successful, more wind turbines could be built for use along the U.S. coast and points beyond. The project gives UMaine an outstanding opportunity to showcase to the world its ingenuity and leadership in the emerging field of harnessing offshore wind.
It is important to note that UMaine would not be in the position it is in today were it not for Republicans in the Maine Senate who insisted during the 126th Legislature that our state university — and not just a foreign oil company — get a fair shot at developing the project.
Here’s a little background:
For years, UMaine had been working with Statoil, a Norwegian oil company, on a prototype for an offshore wind turbine that would harness the strong winds off Monhegan Island to use for electricity. But Statoil, after benefiting from UMaine’s research and resources on the project, decided to go it alone and submit its own proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for a $40 million grant to develop it and leave UMaine behind.
Here is what Statoil proposed: charging Maine electricity ratepayers (essentially all of us) to fund the offshore wind demonstration project, a deal that would have lined the pockets of the Scandinavian oil company to the tune of $200 million over 20 years.
At roughly the same time the federal government was deciding whom to award grants for renewable energy initiatives around the country, here in Maine a massive omnibus energy bill aimed at bringing more natural gas into our state was making its way through the Legislature.
That is when Senate Republicans came up with a remarkably innovative concept. The idea was to attach to the energy bill language that would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to allow UMaine to submit a post-deadline proposal to compete with Statoil for the grant and support from Maine electricity ratepayers in order to build the offshore wind project.
Over the strong objections of Maine Democratic leadership and through some brilliant parliamentary maneuvering, Maine Senate Republicans were able to pass the legislation that allowed UMaine to compete for the grant.
Statoil in response pulled out of the project, leaving UMaine as the sole bidder. Democrats and members of the media howled about Statoil’s supposed unfair treatment.
Initially, the federal government selection process was not favorable for UMaine. The university in May 2014 did not receive full funding from the Department of Energy and was named as an alternate.
But this May, we learned that UMaine is now one of three top competitors for the Department of Energy’s Offshore Wind Advanced Technology Demonstration program.
It may have taken a couple of years to happen, but for UMaine and the entire state it was worth the wait. Now our university and Mainers are in a strong position to lead in the offshore wind technology and do it on the world stage.
Leading the charge to do this during my time in the Senate was one of my proudest moments as a state legislator. But it would not have happened without the efforts of my Senate colleagues in the 126th Legislature who made the decision to take a stand to put the people of Maine first and allow UMaine compete for this exciting project.
Edward Youngblood, a Brewer Republican, is a former state senator who served on the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.