Energy Secretary Steven Chu stated today that the Gulf oil spill emphasized the importance of developing clean energy sources in the U.S. like wind power.

Chu, who has never been shy about touting the importance wind power has for the national energy program, visited the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center where they are working on new designs for floating deep-water wind turbine platforms.

Officials are working on getting an offshore wind farm operational off the coast of Maine within six years.

Chu described the Gulf Spill as “a tragedy” which spoke to the importance of incorporating wind power into the national energy strategy.

“It’s another reminder to step back and say, ‘We do need a comprehensive energy strategy in the United States for the coming decades,’” Chu said.

The Department of Energy has invested more than $25 million in The University of Main’s wind power research while Maine voters approved a bond that will see an addition $11 million assist a university-backed group develop a wind power test site for 2012 off the coast of Maine.

A massive project planned in the UK that would erect an offshore wind farm consisting of over 8,000 wind turbines by 2020 is likely to now be delayed. The government is looking to contract out a major project that would connect the wind farm energy to the grid.

By letting contractors bid on the project, the UK government is hoping to reduce some of the $23 billion expected to cost to connect the 33,000 megawatts of wind energy power to the central grid.

Wind power industry experts are warning that the cost cutting measure could lead to a major bottleneck in the production of the facility since other companies bidding are likely to be lacking in the expertise required to hook up such a wind power operation.

The UK has a target for 2020 to be getting 15 percent of its power from renewable sources.