Dive Brief:
- The California Energy Commission on Tuesday published a final version of its strategic plan for the development of offshore wind resources as the state aims for a previously set goal of 25 GW by 2045.
- In the document, the CEC says that California’s floating offshore wind industry is in its “infancy,” but lays out a strategy for achieving 2 GW to 5 GW by 2030 and ramping up deployment to meet the state’s 2045 goal.
- The CEC changed its January draft of the plan by expanding on the state’s options for: transmission development, streamlining the permitting process, developing a workforce and port infrastructure, and avoiding ecological impacts.
Dive Insight:
The CEC suggests that academic pathways to the offshore wind trade and apprenticeship programs be used to bolster the workforce, while opportunities to improve the lengthy permitting and environmental review process should be explored.
The final plan expands on the draft’s proposed Ocean Renewable Energy Action Team approach to permitting, which would adapt the techniques used by the Desert Renewable Energy Action Team — a “coordinated multi-agency permitting approach developed in 2008 that streamlined permitting for utility-scale renewable energy projects in the California desert.”
The commission also advises “[identifying] federal funding opportunities, tax credits, and other resources in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and other structures, for modernization and expansion of ports and support inclusion of local content and prevailing wage in port projects.”
During the public comment process, several environmental organizations noted the potential for offshore wind to “simultaneously address climate change and stimulate economic growth,” the CEC said, but “some commenters raised concerns about the uncertainty surrounding potential impacts and the rapid pace of proposed offshore wind development.”
The final plan contains an overview of potential impacts that floating offshore wind facilities and ports could have on marine biological resources. These potential impacts include seabird and bat strikes against turbine blades, secondary entanglement when marine mammals are caught in fishing equipment that has itself caught on turbine mooring lines and cables, and underwater noise pollution.
Platforms, mooring lines and inter-array cables can be “specifically designed to minimize slack lines and entanglement risk,” the CEC said, while regulations can be imposed on noise, such as limits on maximum decibel use during geophysical surveys.
Regulations can also take migration patterns into account, the report suggests, in order to limit bird and bat strikes or other negative impacts.
One of California’s barriers to offshore wind development is the deep waters off the West Coast, which will require the deployment of floating offshore wind — a newer technology than the fixed-bottom wind resources being deployed on the East Coast.
“At the end of 2022, there were only 10 floating offshore wind energy projects operating globally, totaling 123.4 MW,” the plan notes.
Deployment will also require significant port infrastructure upgrades, the CEC said. The offshore wind turbines the state deploys “are likely to be between 15 to 25 MW, and the only feasible way to transfer components from one location to another is over water.”
“As a result,” the report said, “staging and integration port sites where floating offshore wind turbines will be assembled are critical and must be available in time to support the future of offshore wind in California.”
A “coordinated multiport strategy” might be necessary, with potentially 16 large and 10 small port sites being developed over the next decade.
The need for floating wind will require that waterfront facilities at ports in California not only manufacture turbine blades, towers and nacelles, but floating foundations as well.
The number of port sites needed for floating foundations is also greater than for blade, tower or nacelle manufacturing, according to the plan. The CEC estimates that to meet a goal of deploying 25 GW by 2045, California will need two port sites for blade manufacturing, one each for tower manufacturing and nacelles, but four sites each for foundation subcomponent manufacturing and foundation assembly.
