Maine's Offshore Wind Port
The Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap determined a port facility is essential for unlocking Maine’s potential to create good-paying jobs, strengthen economic development, and generate clean electricity to stabilize energy costs and reduce our over-reliance on fossil fuels. Maine is planning to construct the East Coast’s first purpose-built port to construct, assemble, launch, and maintain floating offshore wind turbines at a commercial scale.
Maine is seizing this once-in-a-generation opportunity to establish itself as a leader in floating offshore wind by responsibly constructing a port on our shores. The port will help our state realize considerable economic, environmental, and energy opportunities.
The State of Maine has selected a site on Sears Island in the Port of Searsport, pictured above and to the right, for a purpose-built facility for floating offshore wind fabrication, staging, assembly, maintenance, and deployment. With deepwater access to the port development site, Maine has the potential to establish a premier location for the industry and help meet growing demand in the U.S. for offshore wind port infrastructure.
Why Sears Island?
Sears Island is a 941-acre island off the coast of Searsport. A 100-acre portion of the island is one of the best sites for a deepwater port on the eastern seaboard. In 2009, Sears Island was, by agreement, divided into two parcels: approximately two thirds of the island was placed in a permanent conservation easement held by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, while the remaining one third was reserved by the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) for future development. Currently, there are no other ports being considered on the East Coast that can accommodate all aspects of floating offshore wind construction and deployment and that are close to wind energy areas in the Gulf of Maine.
In 2020, Governor Mills directed MaineDOT to study the Port of Searsport to assess the feasibility of constructing port infrastructure in Searsport to support Maine’s offshore wind industry. The study evaluated various locations in Searsport for an offshore wind port, including Mack Point and an area of state-owned Sears Island. A companion study additionally evaluated the Ports of Portland and Eastport for their potential in supporting the offshore wind industry. In 2022, MaineDOT created an Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group to advise the state on port development. This group analyzed available information, held public meetings with state and local stakeholders, assessed state offshore wind efforts, and toured port facilities around Maine to inform its work.
Based on these studies, and using all available information, analysis, and stakeholder input through the advisory group, Governor Mills announced in February 2024 that the most feasible and cost-effective location for an offshore wind port in Maine is on Sears Island. Key attributes that make Sears Island the optimal location for the port include:
- Maine owns the parcel on Sears Island that has been reserved for development since 2009.
- The upfront and ongoing costs for a port facility are estimated to be substantially less than if the port were constructed on privately owned land.
- As a large, unobstructed area with deepwater access, the Sears Island site has the physical and logistical characteristics required to support commercial floating offshore wind.
- The port facility can be purpose-built – designed to allow for construction, assembly, and launch of offshore wind turbines simultaneously, a critical need for floating offshore wind.
- The Sears Island site is not expected to require dredging, a key environmental and financial consideration for a port project.
- The Sears Island site would avoid impacts to existing commercial and industrial activities in the Port of Searsport.
