 Get started. So today, we are honored to be joined by representatives of the Governor's Energy Office, the body responsible for planning and coordinating state energy policy. Director Dan Burgess was appointed to this position by Governor Mills in March of 2019. He has degrees from the University of Maine in Northeastern, and prior to his appointment here in Maine, he spent eight years, for some reason, in Massachusetts at their Department of Energy just a little Massachusetts jab in there, I can't resist. Welcome, Dan. Deputy Director Selena Cunningham spent more than a decade in federal public service at the Department of the Interior and the US House of Representatives before joining the Solar Industries Association as a vice president and chief of staff. She joined the Governor's Energy Office in March of 2020. Welcome, Deputy Director Cunningham. Thank you. And without further ado, I will turn it over to you both to get started. Thank you so much for joining us. Great, thank you so much for having us, Nick, and thank you to the entire Audubon team for hosting that what it sounds like was a really thorough and exciting kind of series of webinars and presentations. I'm also, I didn't type it in the box about where I'm calling from, but currently reside in Falmouth and very grateful to the Audubon for their operations and Falmouth, our family was out there yesterday having a picnic lunch. So thank you for, thanks for all that you do. So I'm, again, Dan Burgess, Director of the Governor's Energy Office, and I'm really pleased to be here today to talk to you about floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. I'm gonna begin the presentation and turn it to Selena. I'll have to leave a little bit early today, but I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you all. So, next slide. Why offshore wind in Maine? I think they give a really nice overview of some of the opportunities and some of the reasons why Maine has been pursuing offshore wind for more than a decade and why we're seeing opportunities that we're working on now. I think you can see from this map from NREL, the National Renewable Energy Lab, when looking at wind speeds off the coast of the United States, you can see that Maine has some of the best and most sustained wind speeds in the country, in the Gulf of Maine. We have what has been described as world class offshore winds right off of our coast, and we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the developments happening along the East Coast. Offshore wind was highlighted by a few most recent reports in Maine from the main climate council report to the economic development or the economic 10-year plan to the Economic Recovery Committee, offshore wind has continued to play what has been seen by policymakers and those engaged in this. That's a really, really big opportunity for the state. We were fortunate to have you, Maine, and the work that they've done. And we really do see a big economic opportunity for development and we'll get into each of those. Next slide. So, when you think about offshore wind for climate change, as Nick talked about, and as you are all well aware, climate change is affecting Maine in numerous ways and myriad ways. 2020 was the warmest year on record. In Portland, Gulf of Maine is warming 99% faster than other ocean bodies on Earth. And Maine actually is the most heating oil dependent state in the country. And so more than 60% of Maine's households utilize oil as their primary heating source. And so there really is a big opportunity to move forward with what is known as beneficial or strategic electrification. With 85% of our emissions coming from either the transportation sector or the building sector, there's a really, we are working on strategies to electrify both through air source heat pumps and heat pump up water heaters, but also through things like electric vehicles as primary opportunities to reduce reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. We need to make sure that we've got the renewable energy in place to back up that electrification. So the climate council plan laid out, we are advancing heat pump opportunities. We are advancing opportunities for transportation electrification. So we need to make sure that we've got the renewable energy on the grid to back that up and help us reduce emissions. Next slide. So when you think about how offshore wind can help us do that again, Gulf of Maine has some of the best resources in the world, but it's also, as you saw from that map, it's very close to load zones. Red, if you think about where the most population is residing up and down the East coast, there are the urban centers where the most electricity is being used is pretty close to offshore wind. So it plays a good, there's a good opportunity there. We do have really good wind speeds in the winter when some of our energy need is the greatest, particularly as we electrify, we all go home when it's cold and snowy and we turn on our lights, our computers and more and more we'll be turning on our heat pumps and others. And so that is when the offshore wind speeds are greatest. So there's an opportunity there. Maine actually has one of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the country. We have a requirement that 80% of our renewable energy will come from, 80% of the state's energy will come from renewable energy by 2030. Right now we're at about 40%. So as we increase that from 40 or 42% where we are to 80% by 2030, we need to make sure that we have the renewable energy projects and developments in place to help us meet that. And offshore wind being such a strong resource that is well positioned, both from a timing perspective, but also from a load profile perspective will be a really big opportunity for us to help do that. And I think that again is not just Maine but up and down the East Coast as well. And then I think that what we've seen is the more investments that are made into offshore wind, the more technology advances, greater opportunity for cost reduction. We've just seen really staggering reductions in cost for fixed bottom offshore wind and the National Renewable Energy Lab predicts a similar cost curve reduction for floating. As you think about kind of development as it happens and more fixed bottom areas are no longer available. The thought is that longer term floating offshore wind is really gonna play a significant opportunity. Next slide. So along with the energy opportunity, there's also an economic benefit opportunity. One study a couple of years ago was done showed that offshore wind could be a $70 billion industry in the US. If you actually look at where the fastest growing, not just sectors, the fastest growing jobs across the country according to the US Census Bureau, two out of the top three are in the renewable energy field. So it's wind technician and solar installer are two out of the top three. The third I believe is nursing position. But you can see not just in Maine but across the country that the renewable energy sector really is a high growth opportunity. And the governor's actually set a goal of doubling the number of clean energy jobs in the state to getting to 30,000 clean energy jobs by 2030. We're actually historically had been lowest per capita in clean energy jobs in New England. And so we do see a big opportunity to invest in and support renewable energy, not just growth but the economic opportunities that come with it. We are, as we're gonna talk about in a minute, we're seeing commitments from the Biden administration and other states that are advancing offshore wind. And we just see Maine as uniquely positioned with the University of Maine technology, which you all heard more about from Dr. Dogger that they've been developing this floating offshore wind platform for more than a decade that has been supported by the US Department of Energy. And it's a really great opportunity to leverage the private public partnership to bring that to market. And again, yes, the workforce potential for skilled trades, it's not just one type of job, it's everything from engineering to fabrication to operations and maintenance that will come with developing this energy. Next slide. So for, we really see offshore wind as an opportunity to, and what we're gonna talk about today is to not just move forward with offshore wind without considering the effects on Maine's important fishing industry and as well as the marine ecosystem, we see an opportunity for Maine to lead in some of that research and scientific work that can happen with the development of offshore wind. The governor is committed to advancing a proposed moratorium in the most heavily fished and traveled areas, which are within state waters. So within state waters are three miles off of the coast and in. And so this project that we're gonna talk to you about a little bit more is really focused on federal waters, some 20 to 40 miles off the coast. And so we see this as an opportunity to focus on that where we'll have least impact, where we can really work on the opportunity for research and engagement and work through a really robust stakeholder engagement among those sites. Could be impacted or those that are interested. Next slide. So if you look at those, I talked about some of the commitments up and down the east coast, the maps on the right are northeast and mid-Atlantic wind energy areas that have been identified. So there's a process run by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is a department, which is an agency within the Department of Interior that works to identify wind energy areas that are then put up for lease and then are auctioned off for companies to lease and therefore develop offshore wind. And what you can see is that as of the end of last year, there were more than or close to 30,000 megawatts of state targets, predominantly in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Virginia. So those are government targets and efforts to develop offshore wind. And on the right, you can see that there's actually close to 10,000 megawatts in contract opportunities. So these are long-term contracts that will lead to the development of offshore wind. So from the Cape Cod South all the way down to North Carolina, you're seeing areas that are poised and primed for development of offshore wind. It's worth noting that there are currently seven turbines in the water right now. There's five off the coast of Rhode Island, near Block Island and then two off the coast of Virginia. And so we're really kind of on the precipice of a brand new industry being formed in the U.S. through these wind energy areas and the Department of Offshore Wind on the East Coast. Next slide. And even just recently, we've seen really significant action, again, at the federal level, but also the state level of commitment to offshore wind. Late last month, the Biden administration announced a 30 gigawatt target by 2030. They announced that they would be focusing on some new leasing and siding areas, particularly in the mid-Atlantic in New York and New Jersey. They announced $3 billion for offshore wind project financing that could be from offshore wind manufacturing to port development and other areas to support offshore wind, as well as a targeted $230 million for port development through the Department of Transportation. I think what was really exciting or noteworthy about the administration's announcements that were made is that they brought together four different cabinet secretaries to make that announcement. There was the Department of Commerce, the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation, all committed to working together collaboratively on offshore wind. So really a whole of government approach, which I think is new, but I also think underscores the commitment from the Biden administration to pursue offshore wind. That same week, Massachusetts, Governor Baker signed legislation to procure an additional 2,400 megawatts by 2027. So that is legislation on the books that will lead to additional procurement and development for offshore wind. And then the same week in New Hampshire, legislation was passed to procure up to 600 megawatts by 2023. I should note that that legislation has not gone through the house in New Hampshire, but it is a sign of a growing interest in offshore wind. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Selena. Great, thanks, Dan, hi everyone. So, sorry, my slide. Taking all of those components that go into why the state of Maine is pursuing offshore wind, we're taking a number of steps to pursue offshore wind and part of under the Maine Offshore Wind Initiative that the governor announced a couple of years ago. And the key components of this strategy are to recognize that there is a growing demand for offshore wind in Maine and to take some active steps to prioritize Maine's interests as interest in offshore wind increases. We obviously need to address climate change and reduce fossil fuel use in Maine and offshore wind is one of several clean energy sources that the state is pursuing in terms of meeting our future energy needs. We also have a long history in the state in terms of research and development and commitment to advancing offshore wind and from the university as well as from others that we are building on and utilizing as we advance in the next going forward. We are, as Dan mentioned, focusing on federal waters where we believe it is most prudent to have offshore wind activity. And recognizing that we have some needs to have some opportunities for shared learning that we are emphasizing research and planning to minimize impacts on the fisheries and the marine ecosystem. We also see opportunities for employment and new additive economic opportunity in the state and that Dan spoke about. So those are the components of the initiative that we are focusing on. And how we're doing that is a number of steps that we are taking. Number one is from a planning standpoint. So looking at the long-term nature of offshore wind in Maine, one thing that is unique about Maine is that we will most likely require floating technology which as Dan mentioned, the price is as cost is dropping significantly and projected to drop quite significantly over the next coming years. And so for meeting our long-term energy needs, floating technology is a key source in doing planning that will help build the economic components and make sure that we determine the best ways to minimize impacts will be important. We're also gonna talk about the Gulf of Maine Floating Offshore Research Array which is a state-led initiative. And then we are supporting a number of public-private partnerships. Number one is working closely with the University of Maine both on their technology and then their other work that they've done over the last decade. New England-Ocaventus, which is a joint partnership of two global offshore wind companies that are utilized in the University of Maine technology. We also signed a, the governor signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom and to pursue opportunities for information sharing and other lessons learned from it which is a great opportunity for the state to learn from a European country that has significant experience with offshore wind. And the other public partnership that we are really excited about is the state recently joined the National Offshore Wind Research Development Consortium which brings together leading voices from states, public private entities to look at where from an R&D standpoint, be it either on the technology side or other ways that we can advance research for offshore wind with a goal of reducing costs and minimizing impacts. So we'll continue our work with that consortium. And we also have a number of deep water ports here in Maine. The state is embarking on a study of Sears Port for a potential offshore wind hub. And then there are roles that the other ports can play in supporting the offshore wind industry. And then as Dan mentioned, there is a federal process for future commercial leasing. We are a member of the Gulf of Maine offshore wind regional task force with Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well. And then in addition to that formal structure, we look for other ways to partner regionally with Massachusetts, New Hampshire, as well as Canada to share information, share what research is needed. And I think going forward we'll wanna do more coordination on advancing the offshore wind industry as we can in a way that makes the most sense for a region. So in terms of the roadmap, we received the governor's energy office received a little bit over $2 million in October. And we are working on steps to stand up this stakeholder effort that will focus on how best to maximize the opportunities and minimize impacts for offshore wind over the long term. There are a number of areas that we're gonna look at. A lot of these are focused on both in the onshore component in addition to offshore considerations from an energy market strategy, transmission, ports and infrastructure, economic impact, both in terms of cost and benefits associated with a new industry, considering equity as well as what opportunities there are around manufacturing, supply chains, workforce development and research and ocean environmental compatibility. And so we're working on setting up a structure for that that those will be publicly held meetings. We'll go out to the public with recommendations and seek feedback. And so we definitely look out for opportunities to engage on that and we welcome your engagement there. So in November of last year, the governor announced her intent to pursue the country's first floating offshore wind research array in federal waters. And so since then we've been going through a number of steps to advance this project. We've held a series of meetings and webinars to share information and seek feedback on how we should pursue this project in terms of areas that are best suited for an area that is best suited to site the project or at least impact, I should say. And then research priorities. And so we've been going through a pretty robust stakeholder process. We have a number of tools on our website in terms of past webinars, questions, lots of information but we can happy to send you a link to that. And where people can find more if we have questions after this and beyond today. So we're in the early stages overall of this project. It is, the next step is applying for a lease in federal waters and then it'll take a number of years to plan this and have something in the water potentially by 2025 or so. So in terms of why we're doing this research array and I should say just briefly what it is. So it's a state led project that would be in partnership with New England Aqua Ventus which is the two global offshore wind companies that are partnering with the University of Maine on their one turbine project off Monhegan. This is a separate project, the research array that we're working on in the state. And it would be a floating offshore wind project that is 12 turbines or less. And it's in an area offshore. I'll show it a map in a little bit but that's at least 20 miles off the coast of Maine. And so a little bit about why we're doing this. We, knowing that we're gonna need floating technology recognizing the importance of the fishing industry and our marine environment. We wanna make sure that we have a better understanding and of how to best bring this technology into our main waters prior to large scale commercial projects in the Gulf of Maine. We wanna build on the experience of the university and the innovation that they've done in utilizing the floating offshore wind technology and supporting the University of Maine and their public private partnership. And our goal is to work with the fishing industry and work with environmental and other organizations to really help answer key questions for how to best seek compatibility with existing ocean users. And then research what it means to bring this floating turbines into the Gulf of Maine. As I think Dan mentioned, there are no floating projects in the US and there are some worldwide but there's definitely a lot that we can learn prior to seeing large projects in main waters. And then there is one thing about offshore wind that is a little bit different than some other industries that lead time for planning is incredibly long both from a permitting construction engineering standpoint. So this is a long-term process. We are starting these conversations now. It will be about five years before we see anything in the water. And we wanna use this experience to inform our future planning for offshore wind as well. So about the array, it's, as I mentioned, it'll be 12 turbines or fewer. The least that we're seeking will be 16 square miles. The project will be 20 to 40 miles offshore and then some other it'll interconnect into either Wisconsin or off of Yarmouth. And we are seeking to send the key priorities and inciting this project are minimizing conflicts with fishing grounds, avoiding high-traffic areas and limiting visibility from shore. Also a key component is minimizing impacts to protect a species and other important ecosystem. So this is just a visual of the potential for the project. The lines between the turbines will be varied if at all possible and covered if not. And then you can see this is a little boat there to give you a side of the scale of what it can look like. And this is just two. It would be up to 12 for the project. And you probably wouldn't see any land like you do in this picture. And that's just another visualization. This is a map of the area. So Wyman Station in Yarmouth and then Maine Yankee and Wisconsin are the two areas, potential areas that won't be decided at this point but that the project will interconnect into the cable. The cable will be buried where possible and covered where not. We would certainly want to work with communities and fishing industry and other stakeholders on determining the best route. And in terms of the size of the project, this circle here is the 16 square miles. So this is an area that the state identified as an area of interest that is in close proximity to high voltage near shore interconnection points that makes the project should be easier to interconnect into than other areas of their coast and so although there's one or two other interconnection points elsewhere in the state. So this is the area that we're focusing on the project from within. We'll choose this identify an area that is 16 square miles from within this area here. And this is just a visual of the technology. I'm glad you had Dr. Habib Dagger to speak to you more about it. It's a pretty unique design in that it utilizes concrete and can be made locally which is different than some of the other platforms. So definitely encourage you to listen to his presentation if you haven't, if you missed it. And so a key component of what we're doing in this project is really using it as a opportunity to research and to answer some fundamental questions that we believe are important to answer for our state and for making the data available to anyone. And so there are some themes that we identified. There's a lot of details that can go into that in terms of the specifics but just give you a sense of the area of research that we want to pursue. And then we are also really open to feedback on not only the research but also using that to help our decisions around siting and project design. And so overall, Maine is taking a phased approach which we think is the prudent approach for Maine given all the reasons that we walk through. We've taken two steps along this path. One is the Castine project, the Project 1A scale project off Castine in 2013. The Monhegan project which is on paced for 2023 which would be the first loading offshore wind project in U.S. waters, that's in state waters. And then the 2025 target for the state led research array in federal waters. And we do anticipate at some point there'll be commercial leasing in the Gulf of Maine. The timing for that is to be determined. And so there's my contact email and then an offshore wind email address as well as I encourage you to check out our website. There's lots of information there. I'll just share in there. I'll just note that I didn't go into significant detail but through our stakeholder process in terms of helping us identify where to site this research array. We've held a number of work sessions and conversations with research entities and the public to seek feedback on a number of areas but one of the areas of focus is on wildlife and hearing from what we know about the area, how we can identify a spot that minimizes impacts to listed species and we've, so the process has been ongoing but we've certainly learned a lot and appreciate the dialogue that we've had so far. So that's been a lot. I think we've lost Dan but I'm happy to open it up for any questions. Great, Selina, thank you so much for that presentation. This is really exciting what Maine is doing and thanks for your work to keep it going further. I have a couple of just clarifying questions because I have, you've got some of the same questions from folks, not necessarily today but throughout so I just wanna clarify a few things and folks, if you do have questions that we've got to in a minute, please put them in the Q&A box down below. I see some of you doing that already. So the two things I wanna clarify, first, can you just, the relationship between the single turbine going off of Monhegan and this array, just so people are very clear on that. Sure. So the project off Monhegan Island is a partnership with the University of Maine in New England-Aqua-Ventus which is the two companies, Diamond Offshore and RWE Renewables. And that project is in State Waters has been in development for a number of years and it's targeted for the 2023. While we will learn a tremendous amount of information from the Monhegan project, both in terms of the technology and further testing the university's technology as we think about how it can be used in other places around the world as the offshore industry has grown dramatically. So from the state's perspective, that's very encouraging. We'll also get important monitoring data and some experience about what it means to have that turbine in the water. The research array is a state-led initiative so the estate partnership with New England-Aqua-Ventus using the technology, but with multi-turbines and while we learn a lot from one, you really are not able to learn as much without multi-turbine array when it comes to answering critical questions about what large-scale projects mean. So when we think about how we want to either transit between turbines or whether we can fish between the turbines, that you can't test with just a one project. So that's some of the reasons why we're pursuing this multi-turbine array is answering some of these fundamental questions, continuing to demonstrate the technology. And so I can certainly understand that there's a lot going on there, a lot of them, but happy to answer other questions. Sure, I think it's important to remember because the single-turbine off of Monhegan is in the news that what is going on there is one single-turbine just as a test. And this is to test the technology that is being developed in the state of Maine largely in order so that we can move it elsewhere. So this is not sort of the first of a bunch of turbines that are going to go up Monhegan. This is really to test it there to see how it's working. And then we're going to move it as part of the larger test, this research array, way out of sight, far farther away from lots of other folks. Yeah, I just want to clarify that the Monhegan project is a separate, the turbine has its own timeline, its own interconnection cable and kind of agreement to be there in place and that their research array will be a separate project utilizing the same type of technology, but not necessarily that it's a separate project there. Gotcha, great. And my second clarifying point, and you made it well, I just wanted to reinforce it is that the map you showed of the potential area for the array, that big sort of oval, I'm correct that the eventual array is just going to be the size of that small blue dot that you had on the side. So it's not going to take up that whole space right now, it's just the small area that you're working on figuring out where within that larger oval that's going to be placed, correct? That's correct. We identified an area, although there are known conflicts within it, that's about 750 or 70 square miles from that, we will identify a spot that's 16 square miles or less. And we identified that area because of its proximity to interconnection points. We set the 20 miles to limit in terms of known fishing, there's fishing activity obviously everywhere, including in that area, but stay away from the most heavily fished areas, particularly as you go closer to shore, and then also the maximum of 40 miles because the project of this scale, we don't want to have a substation for this project, that's been a question that some of you have had, we are in tension is to directly connect the 12 turbines via a transmission cable that would be buried to shore without any substation. So keeping it in 40 miles or less, it's not an exact number, but around there we'll help eliminate the need for a substation. That's great. And just to reinforce, not something we've really talked about too much during this series, but one of the potential benefits of offshore wind is that it is much closer to the areas that need power. And so instead of putting transmission lines in searchers and corridors or doing things on land that have to connect large areas from the power source a long way to where it's being used, offshore wind is closer in theory to those cities, for example, and the cables can be buried or run along the ground where there is sort of less disturbance. So something to keep in mind. I do want to ask a question that's been on the minds of a lot of our members about say this array is up, there's a dozen or more turbines in the water. What happens if you are finding impacts? So what is your plan for sort of monitoring the environmental impacts especially? And what happens if you find something, the impacts are larger than you expected? Yeah, this is a really important question. So in order to even build this project, we're going to need to receive numerous federal, numerous permits, including related to the Endangered Species Act, migratory bird, other federal laws that are important to protecting species. As part of this, we want to use the experience of the research array to gain information with the hope of, if possible, making adjustments from if there's ways that we can, there's a lighting or certain techniques that we can use on the array itself that minimize impacts. We certainly want to pursue those. And then if we learn information that will help make future projects less impactful, we want to bring those into future projects. And so I think that in terms of whether the impacts, we will abide by the laws that we need to meet in terms of protecting the species and take every step that we can to minimize those impacts. And so we'll pursue this. And if the technology, we believe that it will work. And if it doesn't, then that's something we'll have to address when we determine that. And is there a plan for along the way for information about potential impacts to be made public or for folks like main Audubon's members to be involved in the understanding? Yeah, so there are a couple of ways that the public can engage through the specific Research Array Project over the long haul. Number one is that both at numerous stages, there'll be opportunity for public comment through the permitting process. In addition to that, the state intends to have additional stakeholder engagement beyond the existing permitting basic requirements. The third piece is that we anticipate creating a research consortium to, there are obviously a lot of interest when it comes to what type of research we can do. And we'll have to prioritize and come up with a strategy that both makes sense for all of our interests and then what information is most important and how are we going to fund it? And so the state intends to create a research consortium where we bring in both, whether it be stakeholders, whether it be the fishing industry, whether it be NGOs and others, in addition to the offshore wind industry and other folks to help drive what is the strategy and then help drive some of the research that we do pursue. So the research itself will absolutely be public. The process we want to make as public is we haven't figured out all the details, but definitely want to make it inclusive and opportunity for people to learn from this and have the data open. Thank you very much. Clear front and question from David. And I wonder if you could share your screen again and go back to the blue dot slide. I just want to make sure he wanted to double check and see that. So again, on this, it's going to show the Gulf. There'll be a large sort of jagged oval. That is the area they are considering to, there you go. So, and correct me if I'm wrong. Well, so see this, there's this sort of, I don't know what shape you want to call that, a jagged oval there. The blue dot on the right is, that's going to be the eventual size of the proposed array. So if you think about where within that sort of the oval, that blue dot could be, that's the space we're looking at. Not at this point, the entire space, right? That's correct. Yes. And it will not likely will not be a circle. So the other thing that we're seeking input on is the configuration of the site itself. Specifics around microciting of the turbines will happen at a later date after we do, we identify at least area and we do more site surveying to determine where the turbines will be, but yes, that's correct. Great. And actually to further help illustrate, if you go to the slide that showed the sort of the potential imagery of what it might look like in the water, it was sort of the lineup. There you go. So this is potentially what the array could look like. Is that right? And could you tell us sort of what maybe the distances are we're looking at? Sure. So this, there is not been a decision about the specific layout. And that's an area that we are seeking input on. These are about a mile apart, although there is, so that's the floating, the cable does go down in terms of the mooring line does go down a little bit beyond that you can't quite see. So there will be some sort of area around there that would have underwater cabling. And so this is about a mile between that. And in this example, it's two miles between these. And so this has been one proposal of having clusters of four or so that you could do different things in different areas to help test different approaches, but one of several configurations that has been considered. Excellent. And lightning. So another question from a different David, David Little here in the comments. And this will be, well, he asked about whether we know the Gulf of Maine is warming quickly. Do we know what effect that warming will have on the wind speeds in the Gulf? I mean, we've seen from the lead slide that the Gulf of Maine has these excellent wind resources. Do we know what might happen there as it continues to warm? I don't know what scientists predict will happen in terms of, I know that there are some anticipated or already changing, I'm not gonna, not sure, a good question, David. Yeah, good question. And we have heard in some earlier presentations that the currents are expected to change as they flow through, but I haven't heard about wind speeds directly. So that's a good question. A question from Terry in the Q&A here about what role BOEM will play, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will play in establishing these areas or otherwise. So BOEM, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management within the Department of the Interior is responsible for leasing areas for offshore wind. The state will work with BOEM on its application for this research array and will need to obtain a federal lease for the research project. This is, in addition to that, there is a regional task force that BOEM is working with the three other states, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, three total states on areas for potential leasing and the Gulf of Maine. That task force was created, I wanna say a couple of years ago, held its first meeting December 2019, has not held a meeting since then. There are no specific plans about timing for leasing, although as Dan kind of walked through, there is growing interest in, certainly in more areas for offshore wind and for specifically in the Gulf of Maine as well. And so I would anticipate that we would hear, I see more activity from BOEM at some point in terms of federal leasing. And so the state does have an ability to participate on a task force, bring information, share points, perspectives, ultimately a youth federal decision on where and then they'll go through a process to auction off areas and then there'll be a developer that will then plan a specific project in areas offshore. Thank you very much. A few more questions about sort of how the site might be set up from some of the listeners. One question is, do you know about the estimate of the depths of water within the jagged oval? Yeah, there are fathoms on that one that I showed. I wanna say like 600 feet as a kind of, there are fathoms, let me see. There's some between 60, 100 plus fathoms, which I don't remember the calculation of that, but I think 600 feet is probably what we kind of imagine. I could plus or minus. Yeah. I did also looking at that chart notice a reference to discarded depth charges. So I hope that's something folks are looking at too. Anyway, David asks about de-icing the turbines and this may be a question also for Dr. Dagger or otherwise about how these things may survive in the winter. That's a really good question. I do not know the specifics, although I do know that we've seen successful offshore wind projects in Northern Europe and in other locations that probably have similar weather. I don't know if Dr. Dagger showed you the video, but anticipated that it can withstand a 500 year storm and so designed for the main environment. He did, yes. The question about, so I was pretty confident in throwing out this big 156 gigawatt number at the outset, which is not necessarily realistic. That is like the capture, but if we were to look forward, say all of these, the array was very successful and technology was moving along quickly. In a full build out scenario at some point, what might that look like, would you say, in terms of number or area? You know, in terms of whether it would be 556, or I'm sorry, 156 gigawatts, I do not know what it will look like. I think it depends a lot in terms of the specific state needs to meet our energy of the longterm. And then the other thing that is changing dramatically is the turbine size. And the turbine manufacturers are continuing to innovate. And for this project, for their research array, we anticipate 10 to 14 megawatts size turbines, but we won't know that decision for a number of years. And I imagine that when you're looking at commercial leasing, which is commercial projects, which are a number of years away, I don't know where the line is in terms of the size of those turbines too. So that would be one component. Thanks. And a clarifying question from Ernie about the sort of visualization of the blue dot slide, showing the turbines in the water. He asks, is the 16 mile area contiguous or is it the sum of many small areas surrounding the 12 turbines? Essentially, what we were looking at, that was the blue dot, correct? Yeah, so in terms of what, whether we, I've gotten this question before in terms of, are we gonna choose one lease per turbine or a grouping of them or a contiguous area? And the final decision has been made, but my, I think opinion is that it is best suited for one contiguous area where you can then work within to make decisions about micro-citing, and rather than having it spread over larger mileage. Great, thanks. An important stat, I think, put in the questions right now from David, which I, if it's accurate, it's a great, Main Yankee, he says, was 900 megawatt capacity, so just less than one gigawatt. So a full build out in the Gulf would be the power of 156 Main Yankees. So that's quite a bit. John suggests, or, I'm sorry, I lost that quick. David suggests putting a line of LEDs along the length of each blade to deter birds. I encourage you to look back on our research or our event with Dr. Albertani from Oregon State who talked about some of the work he's doing on land and on the water to put cameras or other ways to measure how birds are interacting with these turbines. Carl asks about, so for the array, I believe he's referencing, how much energy may come out of that array and who is selling it and who is buying it? Yes, so the specific megawatt number is not known. It'll depend on the number of turbines, excuse me, in the size of those turbines. And so that we don't have a specific megawatt number although it'll be in the range of the, under 140 or so megawatts of mine in anticipation. And it will interconnect via cable in a two-shore and it will be for a lease. There'll be an operating agreement that will be for 20 years or more and it will go into the main grid and there'll be a negotiation between the Public Utilities Commission and the developer on the project in terms of the specific rate for main rate payers to cover the project. Excellent, thanks. Question from John is how are, or what strategies might be put in place to deter pleasure boats from sort of getting too close or hitting turbines, especially in the fog or something? Hmm, both safety and navigation will be an important piece of this. And I think that we wanna figure out a way to mark, obviously areas where there would be limited areas where there would be not having traffic and then either some sort of demarcation of cable lines in the way that can help the fishing industry, whether that be a marker buoy or some other way to mark it will be important. And then, so I think that would be, have to figure that out with the Coast Guard and depending on whether it's pleasure boats or fishing industry, our goal is to have fishing be allowed within the turbine, between the turbines. And so, but it's just a matter of working with different industries and entities to determine what is safe and then obviously marking where where there is areas for caution. Excellent. So I have 1258 on my calendar and I'd like to head on time. So I'm gonna end the questions here. And just to say to everyone watching, first of all, thank you for watching. Secondly, you are the people who are gonna make sure this is done right. You are the people who are here to comment and to watch and to make sure that Maine can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while still protecting our environment and our birds and our marine mammals. So please continue your interest here. Continue to follow this issue along. Continue to engage with Maine Audubon and with the state, the governor's energy office and the other pieces of the state and federal government who are working here. We really need your continued input and advice and interest and voice on this to make sure it's done the right way. So thank you. Please stick with Maine Audubon. Deputy Director Conakam, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the work you are doing. The difficult, complicated, complex work to push this innovative technology forward and to hopefully get Maine to a better place. Thanks very much. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much for joining us and thanks to everyone for joining. You can watch the recording on our website very soon. Have a great afternoon. Bye. Bye.