PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2025
The federal government has directed the University of Maine to halt activity on $15.8 million in offshore wind research projects, including a floating turbine that is over a decade in the making and weeks away from a final launch off the coast of Castine. The University of Maine System received a letter from the U.S. Department of Energy on April 11 saying it was suspending the projects for “failure to comply” with federal policies, but did not specify which ones. The notice came just hours after contractors had towed an important piece of the university’s major project, a 375-ton concrete floating hull, to Mack Point, an industrial port in Searsport, university spokesperson Samantha Warren said. And researchers and contractors were just weeks from finalizing the installation of the floating offshore wind turbine.