b'22American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comDr. Habib Dagher and the potentialPROJECT CARGO BI-ANNUALof US offshore wind powerBy Matt Miller, AJOTPerhapsnoAmericanisbetterIn the fixed bottom world, Europe positioned to discuss the state of off- built the first offshore wind farm in shorewindtechnologythanHabib1991.Theybuiltaverysignificant Dagher. A structural and civil engineerindustry.Theyhaveover5,000tur-with a PhD from University of Wis- bines installed in Europe already.consin, Dagher heads the UniversityWhen you talk about fixed-bottom of Maines Advanced Structures andturbines,youarealsotalkingabout CompositeCenter,thesiteofland- what goes along with it. So, for exam-markresearchandtestingonwindple, the turbine designs and manufac-turbine blades and floating wind sys- turing are all in Europe. There is no tems. Dagher co-founded the center inoffshore wind turbine manufacturer in 1996. He holds more than 80 patents,the United States today.most on technologies related to vari- AJOT:What about floating tur-ousaspectsoffloatingwindpower,bines?includingmethodsofconstruction,Dagher: When the water exceeds hull designs and buoys.roughly150feet,floatingbecomes Onesignatureachievement:Thethe technology you look at, because VolturnUS, which the Center designedbuilding 150-foot foundation down to andbuilt.Itwasthefirstgrid-con- the seabed will cost you a lot of money. nectedoffshorewindturbineinthe[In 2009] Equinor built a single two-USandapioneerinoffshorefloat- megawatt unit off the coast of Norway, ingwind,employingrevolutionary(POTENTIALcontinued on page 24)JOC POP. Latin America 2021.pdf 1 5/5/21 5:01 AMdesigns that utilized floating concrete hull technology. That one-eighth scale modelprototypelaunchedin2014. The Center is now developing a full- The Port of scale, floating offshore wind turbine, scheduled to be constructed next year and launched in 2024. firstwind- PascagoulaWhilethecenters related work was on composite mate-rialswindblades,theinstitution14 yearsagobecamethefirstresearch center in the US to begin investigat-ingfloatingwindtechnology.That was, in part, a necessary outgrowth of Maines geology. Unlike most states elsewherealongtheAtlanticCoast, Mainescontinentalshelfisquite deepandill-suitedforfixed-bottom wind turbines. To harness the ample windofftheMainecoast,floating wind turbines will be a necessity.The center now boasts of multiple laboratories that total 100,000 squareMexicofeet and include a unique facility thatCaribbeancan simultaneously test both wind and wave stresses on turbines. Dr. Dagher spoke to American Jour- Central Americanal of Transportation twice over Zoom Cfrom his office in Orono, Maine. The conversations were edited for space. Y Forest ProductsMCM MetalsMYCY SteelCMYK Bulk Cargo South AmericaProject Cargo Habib Dagher, University of Maines Advanced Structures and Composite CenterAJOT: Taking offshore wind power asawhole,whereinthetechnology curve are we? PortofPascagoula.comDagher: There are two types of offshorewindtechnologies,fixed-bottom turbines, and floating turbines.Main Office - 228-762-4041 Miami Office - 305-254-3117And theyre quite different.'