The final strategic plan has been created under the bill AB 525, signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2021 . The plan outlines analysis and strategies to deploy floating wind turbines off California’s central and northern coasts to reach the state’s target of 25 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045.
California already has five offshore wind projects under development which are expected to go into operation by the mid-2030s, following the lease sale in 2022, the first in the US to allocate offshore areas for floating wind projects.
RWE and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) won development rights for one lease area each in the Humboldt Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA). Equinor, Ocean Winds, and Invenergy secured a lease are in the Morro Bay WEA.
The total capacity of the five areas estimated by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was 4.5 GW, however, as the wind energy generation technology is advancing, the developers have revealed their projects may have much higher nameplate capacities .
Immediately after being announced lease sale winners in California in 2022, Equinor, RWE, Ocean Winds, CIP, and Invenergy said their lease areas have the potential to house around 2 GW (Equinor), 2 GW (Ocean Winds), 1.6 GW (RWE), 1+ GW (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), and 1.5+ GW (Invenergy) of installed capacity.
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