BLUE H USA ANNOUNCES ITS APPLICATION TO THE US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS FOR A DEEPWATER OFFSHORE WIND PLATFORM

Blue H USA, LLC announced it has submitted an application to the US Army Corps of Engineers to deploy a deepwater floating offshore wind platform in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf, approximately 23 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The US Army Corps of Engineers received Blue H USA’s submission on August 21, 2009, has ruled that Blue H USA’s application is complete, issued a public notice on September 15, 2009, and will accept public comments on the application until October 15, 2009.

A primary objective of the platform is to assess the suitability of the location for deployment of a utility-scale deepwater offshore wind farm (known as “Project Belinda”). The floating platform will be installed at a water depth of 51 meters and will gather both engineering and environmental data useful to Blue H USA and environmental and resource agencies.

This temporary facility is not subject to Minerals Management Service (“MMS”) lease requirements, pursuant to MMS policy dated February 10, 2009. As such, Blue H USA’s application to the US Army Corps of Engineers supersedes its previous Nomination for Lease submission to MMS in March of 2008.

Blue H installed the world’s first prototype floating wind turbine in the summer of 2008 in the Strait of Otranto, opposite the municipality of Tricase in Puglia, Southern Italy. The Company is currently building its first operational 2.4 MW unit in Brindisi, Italy, which it expects to deploy at the same site in the Southern Adriatic Sea in 2010, the first in the planned 90 MW Tricase offshore wind farm, located more than 20 kilometers distant from the beautiful coast line of Puglia.

Blue H believes in having turbines designed for an offshore environment, light weight but robust, and easy to service and maintain, since maintaining wind turbines at sea can be an expensive process. In particular, all Blue H offshore turbines are designed to have only two blades, which, amongst other things, avoid the need for the use of costly crane barges when rotor blades ever need to be changed at sea.

For further information please contact Raymond A. Dackerman (908) 499-2191.

Email:info@bluehusa.com
Website: www.bluehgroup.com