Key themes: west coast siting, permitting, leasing, california policy, floating technology, engineering and design, mooring, dynamic cables, permitting and environmental impact, west coast supply chain, west coast ports infrastructure, west coast grid integration

Developing California’s first offshore wind farms - Morro Bay and Humboldt call areas

• Connect with key policy makers to plan and coordinate California’s offshore wind industry.
• Discuss port optimization and coordination required to serve California’s offshore wind supply chain.
• Plan reliable marine logistics solutions, leveraging US flagged vessels.

Transmission & interconnection planning and coordination for Morro Bay and Humboldt call areas

• Gain insight into regional planning initiatives which support transmission upgrades required for project development in California.
• Understand the present transmission and interconnection constraints and development opportunities to resolve constraints in California.
• Review the key challenges with developing Transmission infrastructure to support integration of offshore wind in California.

The California context for project risk management in offshore wind

• Understand project risk nuances facing floating offshore wind projects and how to mitigate against them effectively.
• Explore the insurance options and cost savings to safeguard floating wind assets and operations.
• Learn how to effectively manage resources to create efficiencies in the supply chain, transmission, interconnections and workforce.

Overview: The deep waters off the coast of California offer an estimated technical potential of 201 GW of floating wind capacity, four times the record peak power demand on the state’s grid. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimated that if California builds 10 GW of offshore wind, it could bring approximately $20 billion to California’s economy and create a total of 14,890 construction jobs by 2050.

More recently, The US Department of Interior has identified an area (the Morro Bay 399 Area) that will support 3 GW of offshore wind on roughly 399 sq mi (1,033 sq km) off central California, northwest of Morro Bay. It is also advancing Humboldt as a potential wind energy area offshore northern California. These two call areas will translate into a proposed sale notice for one lease sale auction, targeted for mid-2022. According to DOI, these initial areas for offshore wind development could bring up to 4.6 GW of energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6 million homes. However, there are many barriers to overcome before 4.6 GW vision can be realized.

This forum will discuss what the pathway to 4.6 GW looks like. Stakeholders and policy makers will answer crucial questions, such as: what scale and pace of offshore wind deployment is needed to kick start development whilst benefiting California’s energy system and its end users? What are the implications of a 4.6 GW build out on California’s renewable energy targets? What are the transmission and interconnection challenges? And on sharing the ocean with other users, the environment and wildlife?