Collins invited Chu to visit the university's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center and spent the day showing him the facility, meeting with stakeholders and talking with Maine energy exhibitors at a technology fair at the lab.
‘I believe that deepwater, offshore wind has enormous potential to help us meet our nation's electricity needs and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,’ says Collins. ‘But it also presents an exciting opportunity for the state of Maine to create thousands of much-needed, good-paying green jobs.’
Estimates are that the development of 5 GW of offshore wind in Maine could attract $20 billion of investment to the state and create more than 15,000 green energy jobs that will be sustained over 30 years, according to Collins.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Collins recently requested that a minimum of $20 million be allocated in the Fiscal Year 2011 Energy and Water Appropriations bill specifically for the development and testing of deepwater, offshore wind technologies.
SOURCE: Office of Sen. Susan Collins
