US awards $427 million for California floating offshore wind port
US awards $427 million for California floating offshore wind port | Windpower Monthly
The US government has awarded a $426.7 million grant for the construction and maintenance of floating offshore wind infrastructure in northern California.
The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District – a local government body covering Humboldt Bay, which is home to a deep water port – will receive the grant for the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind MVP (Minimum Viable Port).
The grant will fund construction and maintenance of a marine terminal primarily for the transport, import, staging, pre-assembly, final assembly, launch, in-water construction, and long-term maintenance of floating offshore wind turbines.
It is to be built close to seabed leases secured by RWE and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners for floating offshore wind projects in California’s 2022 auction.
However, the port is designed to support offshore wind “throughout the west coast of the US”, according to Rob Holmlund, director of development for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District.
News of the grant being awarded came as California agencies warned that the state must invest in a multi-port strategy if it is to reach its target of 25GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2045.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.