The U.S. federal government expects to approve and ultimately develop more than a dozen offshore wind energy projects, off the coasts of California, in the Pacific Ocean; particularly as it seeks to meet its sustainability goals and to bolster its nascent industry.
Firstly, this Tuesday we reported that the federal government and the state of California had agreed on opening the coasts of the state to offshore wind farms and renewable energy production; particularly the areas in the central and northern regions.
Secondly, the agreement intends to install hundreds of turbines off the coasts of Morro Bay; at first; Humboldt Bay next for the subsequent green energy production. The agreement aims at enough to power 1,6 million homes; and so, help the state to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals.
Thirdly, U.S. officials confirmed that such efforts would climb up to develop more than a dozen areas; as part of the Biden-Harris administration plan to fight climate change and decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050.
Moreover, as reported by Reuters, Amanda Lefton, director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said that the agency would complete the review of at least 16 new offshore wind project plans by 2025.
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U.S. aims to 30GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030
In addition, those projects announced by Lefton could add as much as19 gigawatts of clean power to the U.S. grid. Lefton confirmed that such project would put the nation on its way to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind energy production by 2030.
Furthermore, the White House also announced that it had identified two areas off the coast of California for offshore wind development. Those areas being the Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay. Developing there would be a critical milestone in expanding the industry to Pacific waters.
On the other hand, Gina McCarthy, said. “Now we are thinking big and thinking bold.” What was confirmed was the fact that those California development would use floating turbines because of the depth of the outer continental shelf in the Pacific.
Moreover, although this technology is more expensive to develop than those fixed to the seabed. The U.S. Department of Energy has invested more than $100 million in research and development of the technology; specifically, to compete with better costs.
Finally, the area already approved for development will enter environmental review stage; in order to identify the specific areas that are best suitable to hold floating wind energy turbines.
