The US White House revealed plans Tuesday to open up the Pacific Coast to its first commercial-scale offshore clean energy projects and advance areas for offshore wind off the northern and central coasts of California, in the US West Coast.
The move is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. These initial areas for offshore wind development in the Pacific Ocean could bring up to 4.6 GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6 million homes.
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More specifically, the Department of the Interior, in coordination with the Department of Defense, has identified an area (“the Morro Bay 399 Area”) that will support three gigawatts of offshore wind on roughly 399 square miles off California’s central coast region, northwest of Morro Bay.
The Department of the Interior is also advancing the Humboldt Call Area as a potential Wind Energy Area, located off northern California. These identified areas will enable the build-out of a significant new domestic clean energy resource for years to come.
As the outer continental shelf falls away much more quickly into much deeper waters in the Pacific than it does in the Atlantic Ocean, new floating offshore wind technology will be deployed in offshore California waters, a White House statement explains.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after the Biden Administration unveiled a set of actions to catalyze offshore wind energy as part of a commitment to building new American infrastructure and a clean energy future that creates good-paying, union jobs.
Through its ARPA-E program, the US Department of Energy has invested more than $100 million in researching, developing, and demonstrating floating offshore wind technology.
The American offshore wind industry applauds this historic step forward on offshore wind development off the U.S. West Coast. California now has an opportunity to become a global leader in floating offshore wind technology with an agreement to move forward with leasing of 3,000 MW in Morro Bay and additional space in the Humboldt Call Area, totaling 4,600 MW potential development,
…stated Heather Zichal, CEO of American Clean Power Association, after the announcement.
This agreement is a crucial first step for the industry, which will help unlock investment and will set up the West Coast for an even bigger floating offshore wind industry in the future,
…she added.
