Floating wind industry leans into global collaboration amid headwinds

Floating wind turbines use buoyant platforms—triangles, cylinders or other shapes—anchored to the seabed with mooring lines and linked to the grid, enabling power generation in deep waters where winds are strongest. Multiple designs have been tested at small scales in Europe, Asia and Maine, but plans for larger arrays of 10 or more turbines have fallen behind early forecasts due to engineering and cost challenges. The technology’s appeal lies in accessing high-wind zones far from shore, particularly where steep coastal shelves rule out fixed-bottom turbines, such as parts of California.

The U.S. aims to install 15 gigawatts of floating wind by 2035, a goal framed by the Biden administration as a national priority akin to the Apollo program. Despite nationalist rhetoric, the sector’s progress has relied on international collaboration, including study tours, shared technical data and open-source platform designs. This cooperative approach has driven the technology to the brink of commercial viability, even as recent policy reversals and project delays have created uncertainty about the timeline.

In Maine, researchers at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center began developing floating platforms after the 2008 energy crisis, when heating fuel prices exceeded $4 per gallon. The state’s 2010 voter-approved bond measure funded the research, leading to a quarter-scale floating platform installed off Castine in May 2025, towed by cadets from the Maine Maritime Academy. The platform, shaped like a plus sign, supports a 108-foot turbine and is being used to test mooring innovations and withstand wave loads up to 60 feet.

The Maine center has made its steel platform specifications and software parameters publicly available, a move praised by Oxford University researcher Emma Edwards as critical for advancing the technology. Meanwhile, a proposed research array of 10–12 full-sized turbines, for which the state secured a federal lease in 2024, remains stalled after a developer paused power offtake negotiations in March citing shifts in the energy landscape. The state’s Offshore Wind Research Consortium, involving tribal governments, fisheries and environmental groups, coordinates research priorities to address community and ecological concerns.