On the Pacific Horizon: California Offshore Wind Energy
Offshore wind energy has incredible potential to meet California’s climate change goals, invest in renewable energy jobs, and improve air quality in frontline communities. Floating turbines built off the coast can facilitate economic recovery and meet peak energy demands with solar energy.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal agency tasked with the development of offshore energy in federal waters, has already identified five sites in California with a combined potential of 21 gigawatts (GW) – 25% of the State’s future electricity needs.
While the Bureau was silent on this work in recent years, a recent Executive Order directed the Department of the Interior to accelerate responsible development of renewable energy on public lands and waters, and on February 3rd BOEM announced it would resume working on a proposed offshore wind project in Massachusetts. Now, all eyes are on California.
California’s landmark Senate Bill 100 commits the State to 100% clean energy by 2045, and offshore wind energy must play a crucial role in these renewable energy and climate change mitigation goals. Just 1 GW of offshore wind energy can supply electricity to 350,000 homes, so even moderately sized projects can provide millions of residents with clean energy.
Importantly, offshore wind energy complements solar energy production. Coastal winds are generally the most strong between 5 and 7 PM, coinciding with peak energy demand that occurs after sunset and therefore after peak solar generation hours.
Investment in labor unions and deindustrialized towns can accelerate economic recovery by creating thousands of jobs and training a workforce with the skills to meet the growing demand for renewable energy technologies and infrastructure. Short- and long-term projects in port development, manufacturing and construction of turbine technologies, installation, and operations and repairs will create tens of thousands of multi-sector jobs, ranging from engineers to welders, and electricians to crane operators.
Local and targeted hiring practices can ensure benefits for local communities and facilitate a just transition from fossil fuel energies. Developers can be mandated to hire local workers and people from disadvantaged groups and support these workers with equitable wages, ESL classes, and apprenticeship programs. The technical skills of displaced oil, gas, and nuclear workers must be employed too, and as part of a just transition, any skill gaps should be addressed by training programs.
Ramping up offshore wind will also phase out fossil fuel peaker plants in environmental justice communities. These natural gas combustion plants are currently used to meet peak consumption, but they emit lots of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides that have adverse health effects that disproportionately impact low-income communities of color.
78% of these plants are located in the most disadvantaged communities identified by the State, and air and water pollution in these populations can be associated with adverse birth impacts, respiratory and coronary issues, neurological damage, cancers, and an array of other conditions. An expansion of offshore wind energy will help reduce these harmful environmental health and climate change impacts.
Support for offshore wind energy in the State is growing quickly, and San Francisco’s Assemblymember Chiu introduced Assembly Bill 525 on February 10, calling for 10 GW of offshore wind energy by 2040 with an interim target of 3 GW by 2030. This bill, which may be heard in Committee as early as March 13, tasks the Energy Commission, in particular, to work on the identification of sea space, economic and workforce development, transmission planning, and permitting.
To advance climate change action, equitable economic development, and pollution reduction for marginalized communities, contact your State Assemblymember and call for their support of AB 525 and offshore wind renewable energy.
