The grants will be distributed among six projects over two years, according to the announcement.

“Developing innovative drivetrain technologies will allow U.S. manufacturers to build larger, more cost-effective, and more efficient wind turbines than any in operation today,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The projects announced today will help the United States to lead the global wind energy industry in this critical technology area, diversify our domestic energy portfolio, and create new jobs for American workers.”

The projects include Boulder Wind Power’s research on a direct drive generator that could be used for offshore wind turbines with up to 10 megawatts in capacity and Clipper Windpower’s effort to replace the gearbox with a chain drive for large wind turbines.

Judge Confirms Maine’s Monhegan Island Test Site

A Maine Superior Court judge rejected an appeal of the deepwater floating turbine test site near Monhegan Island, Maine’s Herald Gazette reported today.

Activist Ron Huber filed suit in 2010 claiming that the site would be environmentally harmful. Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm ruled that the state was justified in selecting the site.

Senior Massachusetts political leaders, state energy officials and offshore wind industry representatives gathered Wednesday to open the $38 million facility — which is the nation’s largest blade testing operation. Engineers will soon will test a blade from TPI Composites, which has a facility in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts.

“We are booked for the next 18 months,” said Patrick Cloney, director of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Craig Christenson of Clipper Windpower told the audience that the facility is a ”field of dreams” for engineers.

“Thank you all for building it,” he said. “We have come.”

Nearby Counties Will Share In Cleveland Offshore Wind Lease Payment

Three counties near Cleveland will share the lease payment from a planned offshore wind development in Lake Erie, the Ashtabula Star Beacon reported yesterday.

Cuyahoga County and its Port Authority will receive 40 percent of the lease payment according to the report. The three other counties in the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. — Ashtabula, Lake and Lorain Counties — will share the remaining money.

Richmond Op-Ed Calls For Offshore Wind Instead of Oil Drilling

The Richmond Times Dispatch published a sharp critique of Virginia’s energy policy yesterday by Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who called for offshore wind development instead of offshore oil drilling.

“Pushing for dangerous offshore drilling just a few miles from Virginia Beach in 2011 is the technological equivalent of building canals during the early days of railroad. Or investing in manual typewriters in, say, 1985,” Tidwell wrote. “For a modern solution to our energy woes, Virginia should join New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland in developing offshore wind power, not oil.”

Tidwell called on Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to promote “policies that move wind power forward, including appropriate incentives for Dominion Virginia Power to begin building its own turbines and blades for deployment off the coast.”

Sen. Alexander Questions Tax Incentives For “Big Wind”

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander questioned tax incentives for “Big Wind” and said that the money might be better spent on research, The Hill reported yesterday.

Alexander’s comments came a day after the Senate rejected a bill that would have cut subsidies for oil companies but he suggested that he would be open to reducing energy subsidies across a range of industries.

“My colleagues want to talk about ‘Big Oil’ all week. I think we ought to be talking about ‘Big Wind,’” Alexander said during a Senate Appropriations hearing.

Three developers responded this summer to an offshore wind RFI issued from the city.  Last week, Mercury Wind Energy and Off Grid Technologies described their Lake Michigan wind farm proposals in more detail to Evanston officials, the Sun-Times reported.

Mercury Wind Energy’s proposal reportedly included company-led financing with private ownership of the wind farm.  Off Grid Technologies proposed an eventual transfer of ownership to the city, the Sun-Times reported.?

Delaware Port Plans Offshore Wind Assembly Facility

The Port of Wilmington in Delaware and NRG Bluewater Wind officials are planning a facility to assemble and deploy offshore wind foundations and turbines, the Wilmington News Journal reported Sunday.

The $66 million facility would have a the capacity to offload huge turbine and foundation components from foreign ships and transport them to a large assembly area, the News Journal reported.  The site has an existing rail connection for domestic components.

The Port of Wilmington and Bluewater have already applied for a $22 million stimulus grant from the Department of Transportation — the state would need to kick in another $22 million and NRG would contribute the rest, according to the report.  The project would be completed by the end of 2012, the News Journal reported.

United Technologies Makes Offer For Remaining Clipper Shares

Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. reached agreement with the management and independent members of the board of directors of Clipper Windpower on a cash offer for all remaining shares of the turbine manufacturer, the company announced in a press release today.

UTC currently holds approximately 49.9 percent of the issued share capital of Clipper, according to the release.  Clipper is developing a 10 megawatt offshore wind turbine, with a prototype scheduled for launch in late 2012.

Clipper Windpower broke ground last week in Britain on a factory that will build a much discussed 10-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine.

The factory is scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2010, according to the company, which has headquarters in the UK and California.

Several developers have discussed the possibility of using the 10 MW turbines in US projects.  In December 2009, representatives from Scandia Wind Offshore publicly suggested using the 10 MW Clipper turbines for a proposed 1,000 MW Lake Michigan wind farm.

A prototype of the 10 MW turbine, dubbed ‘Britannia Project’ by Clipper, is slated for launch in late 2012.  In 2009, the British government awarded Clipper an almost $7 million grant to push the development of large offshore wind turbines.

“Today marks an exciting and important milestone in achieving the Britannia Project blade requirements,” said James Dehlsen, chairman of Clipper, in a press release.  “Over the next few years, with the development of the Britannia turbine the UK will benefit through the supply of electricity based on its abundant offshore wind energy resource, and also with economic activity related to turbine manufacturing, offshore installation, and long term operations and servicing.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he welcomed “Clipper’s ground-breaking announcement to build the largest wind turbine blade in the world.”