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Following the death of its founder, the work of a Portland-based think-tank and venture capital fund devoted to addressing the creation of renewable offshore energy within the United States will soon fall under the auspices of the University of Maine.
A donation made by the family of the late Matthew Simmons will create the Matthew R. Simmons Ocean Energy Initiative Fund at the University of Maine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center to further its research and development in deepwater offshore wind technology.
The donation includes furnishing for UMaine’s new offshore wind laboratory and the library of works related to renewable energy that Simmons collected as founder and chair of the Rockland-based Ocean Energy Institute. The library of works includes notes and presentations as well as reports produced by OEI. The Simmons family also made a substantial cash donation to help fund the effort.
Established by Simmons in 2007, the Ocean Energy Institute will officially cease operations today in the wake of its founder’s August 2010 death.
“The initiative’s goal is to continue to further our common vision of responsibly harnessing the vast energy our oceans embody,” said Habib Dagher, director of UMaine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center and principal investigator for the DeepCwind Consortium. “The development office will work with the Advanced Structures and Composites Center to raise an endowment to promote ocean energy activities.”
Dagher added that the OEI and UMaine have worked on many things together in the past, including their involvement as key players in the DeepCwind Consortium.
“We collaborated on research and development leading to the deployment of deepwater floating wind turbines between 20 and 50 miles offshore,” Dagher said. “Matt and OEI were integral in developing the vision of harnessing deepwater offshore wind resources to reduce our reliance of fossil fuels and create thousands of Maine jobs.”
The donations will help the AEWC to “intensify” its efforts in research and development specifically, but will also help the program to further educate the public on the topic of offshore energy, Dagher said. Meanwhile, the presentations and notes will be used to conduct symposiums and conferences explaining the importance of offshore energy.
“With additional resources provided by OEI, UMaine will continue to forge ahead,” Dagher said. “Even faster with engineering work, policy work and public education initiatives related to ocean energy.”
Simmons founded the OEI as a think-tank and venture capital fund aiming to address the challenge of renewable offshore energy within the United States. According to its website, oceanenergy.org, the original OEI approached research and development from a comprehensive standpoint, viewing the generation, transmission and usage of offshore energy as a whole system rather than compartmentalized areas.
The website states that the program’s mission is “working to coordinate the diverse factors that will help make ocean energy a reality” including “energy system architecture, offshore wind technology, environmental interests, stakeholder concerns, industrial partners, academic research, financial firepower and political factors.”
According to an Aug. 9, 2010, article in the Kennebec Journal, Simmons passed suddenly from a heart attack at his home in North Haven, leaving his family, friends and co-workers stunned. The hope of this donation is to keep his vision and goals alive.
“Matt was a wonderful friend, a visionary leader and a leading businessman,” Dagher said. “We are thankful to Mrs. Simmons and her family and accept this donation with great responsibility and a sense of purpose to carry on Matt’s vision of energy independence and job creation.”
In a university press release, OEI Managing Director Robert West agreed that the new fund would be an appropriate way to continue Simmons’ work posthumously.
“Matt was an internationally known visionary leader, and a major supporter of renewable energy efforts,” West wrote. “This collaboration with UMaine will serve as a fitting tribute and will provide useful ways for OEI and its advocates to support UMaine’s internationally recognized ocean energy research initiatives.”
