Principle Power Abandons WindFloat Project in Oregon

Principle Power has withdrawn its lease request for a site approximately 25 kilometres west of Oregon’s Port of Coos Bay, where the company had planned to set up its WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project.

The project was proposed by Principle Power in May 2013 and the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gave its approval in early 2014.

The WindFloat Pacific would have consisted of five 6MW wind turbines mounted on floating foundations, anchored to the seabed.

BOEM said it is now no longer processing the project application and added that there is now only one offshore renewable energy project in Federal waters offshore Oregon, the Pacific Marine Energy Center South Energy Test Site (PMEC-SETS) wave energy project, proposed by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC-OSU) at Oregon State University in June 2013.

In 2013, Principle Power was awarded a Department of Energy grant to support its WindFloat project and the company announced the list of official project partners, which included: MacArtney Underwater Technology, Siemens Wind Power, Houston Offshore Engineering the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RPS Evan Hamilton, Forristal Ocean Engineering, the American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas.

In 2012, Principle Power, together with Energias de Portugal (EDP) deployed a full-scale 2MW WindFloat system off the coast of Agucadoura, Portugal, which was the first offshore wind deployment worldwide that did not require the use of any heavy lift equipment offshore.