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July 3, 2009
BLUE H USA
PRESS RELEASE
Blue H USA
announces Massachusetts Congressional Support for Offshore Wind
Demonstration Project
On Thursday, July 3, 2008, Blue H USA, LLC (“Blue H”) announced that it has
received a letter of support from the entire Massachusetts Congressional
Delegation to the Minerals Management Service requesting consideration of
its Massachusetts deepwater wind energy demonstration project in federal
waters located 23 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and 45 miles off
the coast of New Bedford. In the letter sent to the U.S. Department of
Interior’s Minerals Management Service dated June 26, 2008, the
Massachusetts Congressional Delegation stated, “We therefore encourage you
to review and consider the application submitted by Blue H USA, which could
prove beneficial for developing future renewable energy resources for
Massachusetts and the nation.”
“We commend the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation for its leadership in
recognizing and identifying the potential for deepwater offshore wind energy
development in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts“, stated Ray Dackerman, the
General Manager of Blue H USA LLC. Dackerman further stated, “Blue H looks
forward to receiving federal approval for our demonstration project, proving
the efficacy of our technology, and ultimately generating clean, green,
renewable cost effective power for the benefit of the people of
Massachusetts – while creating green technology domestic jobs for the state.
The signing of the recent visionary energy bill by Governor Patrick is also
an indication that Massachusetts can be a national leader in energy
conservation and renewable energy projects and Blue H looks forward to being
a significant contributor to this effort.”
“With the regulatory framework from the Minerals Management Service soon in
place, we believe that the U.S. will rightfully become a significant player
in the emerging deepwater wind energy industry”, said Neal Bastick, the CEO
for Blue H Technologies BV. “Specifically, Massachusetts has outstanding
offshore winds and the leadership now in place to benefit from its clean,
renewable energy resources. Furthermore, many of the pioneers in the wind
energy industry have emerged from Massachusetts which will be a valuable
asset as we move forward with our U.S. development efforts in New England
generally and in Massachusetts in particular.”
Martin Reilly, spokesman for Blue H USA LLC stated that, “The entire
Massachusetts Congressional Delegation deserves great credit for recognizing
the seriousness of our state and nations energy crisis and for firing the
first shots in our nation’s battle for energy independence - while providing
the leadership in taking the important first steps forward for making the
Blue H USA demonstration project a reality in the best interest of the
people in Massachusetts, the New England Region, and our nation.”
Blue H develops technology for deepwater offshore wind energy production,
develops deepwater offshore wind farms, and controls the manufacturing and
maintenance of its proprietary Gamma 2-bladed turbine technology. The
corporate headquarters for Blue H USA LLC is located at 60 State Street in
Boston, Massachusetts.
On March 12, 2008, Blue H USA LLC submitted a Nomination For Lease with the
US Minerals Management Service (MMS) to install what it anticipates to be
the first floating deepwater wind energy unit in North America. The
technology testing facility, named ‘Belinda’ consists of a floating
structure supporting a non-operational 3.5 MW wind turbine consistent with
MMS guidelines. The purpose of Project Belinda is threefold:
- Launch the deepwater wind energy industry in the United States by
fully using US facilities for the construction, commissioning, and
decommissioning of Blue H’s patented wind energy structure.
- Test the floating platform technology in actual oceanographic
conditions in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Collect site-specific resource data and information.
Following demonstration of the efficacy of its technology, Blue H intends to
proceed with seeking permits for a full scale commercial deep water wind
energy project in a 40 square mile area which will:
- consist of 120 turbines
- generate 420 MW
- be located 23 miles from Martha’s Vineyard
- be located 45 miles from New Bedford
- be in a water depth of 51 meters (167 ft).
In December of 2007, Blue H Technologies BV launched the first ever large
scale prototype Submerged Deepwater Platform (SDP) off the
coast in Southern Italy. This event marked a world premiere in the offshore
wind energy sector. The prototype is scheduled for full installation in the
summer of 2008.
Blue H Skysaver Srl is now constructing Blue H’s first commercial unit for
an offshore wind farm off the coast of Puglia in Southern Italy. In January
2007 Blue H Skysaver obtained the final authorizations to install its large
scale prototype in the water and has now has applied for the required
authorizations to build a 90MW wind farm in the same area, 20 kilometers
from the coast in waters 100 – 120 meters in depth. The project has a strong
support of the Regional Government of Puglia and the local population.
The offshore wind energy market is projected to represent 40% of the
installed capacity of the total worldwide wind energy market by 2030. As a
matter of fact, offshore wind farms benefit from stronger and less turbulent
winds and can avoid logistic constraints due to problems of transportation
of the turbines and their blades, as well as address to a large degree the
concerns of visual impact of onshore wind farms.
However, with the commercially available technology today, which requires
wind turbine foundations to be installed into the seabed on mono-piles or
jackets or tripods, the costs of installation grows dramatically as the
depth of water increases, often limiting potential offshore sites to areas
less than 50 meters in depth, something which restricts greatly the
potentially available areas to construct wind farms.
In contrast Blue H has developed a new solution by adapting
the concept of submerged tension-legged platforms developed by the oil
industry for some of its offshore rigs, and designed a platform large and
stable enough to support a tower and a wind turbine.
As explained by Martin Jakubowski, the inventor of SDP technology and author
of other Blue H patent applications, this innovative technology:
- reduces significantly the overall weight
of the
structure, a huge element in cost component of offshore wind units
-
can be assembled onshore and then towed out far
offshore, at distances of 10 nautical miles or more and positioned in
deep waters (50 meters or more in depth); Blue H does not use the heavy
equipment needed to build structures into the sea bed: such heavy
equipment is both expensive and in short supply – particularly crane
ships and jack-up barges.
-
allows a localization far enough from the coast to
benefit from stronger and more regular winds (thus reducing the cost per
kWh), to overcome frequent environmentalist objections to on-shore farms
and to address a fundamental problem of the wind energy industry today,
that of being able to deploy larger and larger turbines (also reducing
the cost per kWh); it can also often be placed in locations near heavy
demand centers.
-
Is more environmentally friendly because easier to
dismantle with no leftover.
For all these reasons, Blue H provides a cost effective solution for the
installation of offshore wind energy converters in deep waters. “Blue H
intends to demonstrate that deepwater offshore wind farms can be built
economically and certainly at a cost which is extremely competitive to the
shallow water wind farms of today” said Neal Bastick, CEO of Blue H.
download:
+ Blue H USA LLC Press Release
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Press Releases
January 14,
2009 - Project Deepwater Turbine
January 13, 2009
- Energy Technologies Institute Unveils First Projects to benefit from
£1.1 Billion Initiative
October 23,
2008 - Consortium Northwester Applied for Offshore Wind Concession
October 15,
2008 - Blue H France SAS Created
July 3, 2008 -
Blue H USA Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Letter of Support
March 10, 2008
3, 2008 - Blue H USA Submits Nomination For Lease
December 6,
2007 - Blue H Launches World's First Floating Wind Turbine
December 6,
2007 - Technical Note
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