Offshore Wind Update 2022
A lot has happened since the Biden administration in May 2021 announced that California’s northern and central coasts would be open to offshore wind development, identifying two areas in particular: Morro Bay and Humboldt Call.
The idea was to pursue the development of floating offshore wind platforms off the California coast as part of the Biden administration’s overall goal of generating 30 gigawatts of domestic offshore wind by 2030. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the lead agency on offshore wind.
This past May, the department announced offshore wind lease sales for the first time on the West Coast. The Proposed Sale Notice, published May 31 in the Federal Register, includes three proposed lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area i...