The tops of wind turbines farther offshore are obscured by a marine layer in this photo of the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island provided by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The five turbines are anchored to the seafloor; the turbines in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area would float but would be tethered to the bottom.
Marty Heinze, inset, from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, explains the calculation of bidder credits based on the cash bid for offshore wind energy leases in this screenshot from a BOEM California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting held Friday via Zoom.
Sara Guiltinan from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management describes the leasing process for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, which will be divided into three lease areas that will be up for auction in late fall, in this screenshot from the BOEM California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting held Friday via Zoom.
Amanda Lefton, lower right, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, responds to a question by Sam Cohen, upper left, of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, about the offshore wind energy project's potential impacts on the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary in this screenshot from the BOEM's task force meeting held Friday via Zoom. Listening are Doug Boren, BOEM, upper right, and Bill Douros, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, lower left.
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary published this map showing the proposed area where biological and cultural resources would be protected. A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency said the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area is located just outside the sanctuary's boundaries.
A chart from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management shows statistics for the three lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area. The column of totals at the right includes figures from the Morro Bay area plus those from an area off the coast of Humboldt County, which are not shown.
A photo from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency shows construction of one of the five turbines in the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. The turbines in the 30-megawatt wind farm are anchored to the seafloor, while those proposed off the Central Coast would be floating.
A diagram shows how floating wind turbines, tethered to the seafloor, would be linked to a floating substation, which would then send the electricity the turbines generate to an onshore substation connected to the state's electric grid.
The tops of wind turbines farther offshore are obscured by a marine layer in this photo of the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island provided by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The five turbines are anchored to the seafloor; the turbines in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area would float but would be tethered to the bottom.
Contributed
Marty Heinze, inset, from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, explains the calculation of bidder credits based on the cash bid for offshore wind energy leases in this screenshot from a BOEM California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting held Friday via Zoom.
Contributed
Sara Guiltinan from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management describes the leasing process for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, which will be divided into three lease areas that will be up for auction in late fall, in this screenshot from the BOEM California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting held Friday via Zoom.
Contributed
Amanda Lefton, lower right, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, responds to a question by Sam Cohen, upper left, of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, about the offshore wind energy project's potential impacts on the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary in this screenshot from the BOEM's task force meeting held Friday via Zoom. Listening are Doug Boren, BOEM, upper right, and Bill Douros, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, lower left.
Contributed
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary published this map showing the proposed area where biological and cultural resources would be protected. A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency said the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area is located just outside the sanctuary's boundaries.
Contributed
A chart from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management shows statistics for the three lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area. The column of totals at the right includes figures from the Morro Bay area plus those from an area off the coast of Humboldt County, which are not shown.
Contributed
A photo from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency shows construction of one of the five turbines in the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. The turbines in the 30-megawatt wind farm are anchored to the seafloor, while those proposed off the Central Coast would be floating.
Contributed
A diagram shows how floating wind turbines, tethered to the seafloor, would be linked to a floating substation, which would then send the electricity the turbines generate to an onshore substation connected to the state's electric grid.
A task force on renewable energy in California, as well as members of the public, last week heard how credits will be assigned to bidders in a lease auction of offshore tracts to develop wind-powered systems that could generate up to 3 gigawatts of electricity.
More than 300 people — most of them from companies related to the power generation industry — attended the online meeting of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force.
An update on the lease sales included a timeline to the online auction scheduled for this fall and an explanation of various plans bidders will have to submit and credits that can be granted for their plans to support the workforce and mitigate impacts.
Some task force members from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties expressed concerns over project effects on a proposed national marine sanctuary and the low percentage of credits for mitigating impacts.
Amanda Lefton, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said seven lease sales are planned by 2025, including off the coasts of New York and the Carolinas, with a goal of producing 30 gigawatts of power by 2030.
Two lease sales are planned off California, one northwest of Morro Bay and the other off the coast of Humboldt County.
She said the tracts proposed for leasing off San Luis Obispo County lie in waters previously considered infeasible for wind energy development.
“Here on the West Coast, floating wind [facilities] are key to wind energy in deeper waters thought unreachable,” Lefton said, noting East Coast facilities are anchored to the seafloor.
Sara Guiltinan from BOEM said the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area is divided into three lease areas, one of about 125 square miles and two of about 126 square miles, and bidders for those areas will choose the credits they want to receive.
Credits consist of a percentage of the cash bid — 20% to invest in the workforce and 2.5% for resources harvested in the lease area, primarily commercially caught fish.
Workforce credit would be applied for developing skills and techniques to support the workforce, technology and management and for supporting the supply chain, explained Marty Heinze of BOEM.
The much smaller resources credit would be for compensation or mitigation of impacts on the commercial fisheries, he said.
Heinze said for example, if a winning cash bid was $30 million, the bidder could receive a $5 million credit in exchange for a commitment to spend $4 million on workforce training or development of the domestic supply chain, leaving the cash bid $25 million.
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Task force members representing SLO County and Morro Bay were concerned about the credit for compensating the commercial fishing industry.
Morro Bay Mayor John Headding asked if the 20% workforce credit could be decreased and the 2.5% credit for fishing compensation increased.
“We think this will have a major impact on the fishing industry,” Headding said.
Morro Bay City Councilwoman Jen Ford agreed: “I really feel the fishing industry will be greatly affected by this, as well as our tribal communities.”
Task force member Sam Cohen, representing the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and other Chumash tribes, asked if there would be interaction with the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
Bill Douros, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, said the lease areas are not within the proposed 7,000-square-mile sanctuary, but studies will look at things like cable routes and landings within that area.
Guiltinan said BOEM is consulting with 71 tribes about impacts of the lease.
She also pointed out the award of a lease does not permit a lessee to do any construction, only to submit plans, and a number of those are required by BOEM.
Those include a survey plan, three communication plans with Native American tribes, agencies and a new one for fisheries, which are all due within 120 days of the lease execution.
Lessees must also look at impacts of climate change, vessel routes and the use of dock space, and archaeological surveys must be conducted to keep facilities 50 meters away from any sites that are discovered.
Protective measures must be added for issues uncovered in a biological survey and geological and geophysical surveys.
220-foot wind turbine blades parade through Lompoc
A giant 220-foot wind turbine blade precariously makes its way through downtown Lompoc Friday, headed to the 2,970-acre Strauss Energy wind farm project site located in the hills southwest of the city.
A giant 220-foot wind turbine blade rolls down Ocean Avenue toward San Miguelito Canyon Road, headed for the hills southwest of the city where the 2,970-acre Strauss Energy wind farm project site is located.
A giant 220-foot wind turbine blade guided by crews rolls down Ocean Avenue toward San Miguelito Canyon Road in Lompoc, headed for the hills southwest of the city where the 2,970-acre Strauss Energy wind farm project site is located.
Len Wood, Contributor
092421 Wind Turbine Arrives 3
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Crews can be seen aiding in the transport of a 220-foot wind turbine through downtown Lompoc on Friday afternoon.
Erin Keller, Contributed
092421 Wind Turbine Arrives 1.JPG
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Crews can be seen aiding in the transport of a 220-foot wind turbine through downtown Lompoc on Friday afternoon. The blade made its way to the Strauss Energy Wind Project site located in the hills southwest of Lompoc.
Erin Keller, Contributed
092421 Wind Turbine Arrives 2.JPG
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Crews can be seen aiding in the transport of a 220-foot wind turbine through downtown Lompoc on Sept. 24.
