Sen. Susan Collins has shared that $4.8 million in federal funding has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee for continued offshore wind research at the University of Maine.

According to a report filed by AP, Collins said the funding has been approved and has been included in the 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that will go to the full Senate for consideration.

Last month, a National Deepwater Offshore Wind Research Centre, to be operated by the University of Maine, was proposed during a meeting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. Governor John Baldacci had joined Senators Olympia Snowe and Collins and Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree for a meeting with Secretary Chu.

The Governor and Congressional Delegation asked Chu to allocate $20 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the first year of the project, and asked him to support additional Congressional funding over the next four years.

As indicated previously, the goal of the Centre would be to enable the design and testing of a large scale floating offshore wind platform that could serve as the basis of a large-scale offshore wind industry.

Supporters believe that Maine has what it will take to develop the technology and build the large, floating structures that will be needed for an offshore wind industry.