Sears Island Offshore Wind Port Planning and Design

The Sears Island Floating Offshore Wind (FOSW) port in Maine aims to support the offshore wind (OSW) industry along the East Coast. While most OSW projects utilize fixed-bottom foundations for turbines in shallow waters up to 200 ft, the Gulf of Maine’s deeper waters make these foundations economically impractical. FOSW turbines offer a solution for such environments. The development of FOSW technology requires specialized ports for importing, fabricating, assembling, and storing wind turbine components. Currently, no ports on the East Coast can effectively support an FOSW project. With floating foundation and turbine technologies still evolving and growing, the need for a large-scale purpose-built port is evident to support FOSW in the US. Maine DOT has engaged Moffatt & Nichol (MN) to assess the feasibility of constructing an FOSW port in Searsport. The project is planned in two phases: phase one will support a demonstration project, and phase two will enable a full-scale commercial farm installation. This paper outlines the study, discusses the FOSW port design criteria, and provides an overview of the Sears Island port planning and design process.