The United States’ Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced it will hold an offshore wind lease sale in the state of California on 6 December 2022. BOEM will offer five areas off central and northern California that total approximately 373,268 acres (1,500 km2) and will have the potential to hold over 4.5 GW of offshore wind capacity.
Three lease areas are located off central California and two are off northern California. They are expected to be able to accommodate floating wind technology and could power more than 1.5 million US households. It will be the first offshore wind lease sale on the US Pacific coast and the first through which the US will support commercial-scale floating wind farms.
BOEM has issued the Final Sale Notice (FSN) that provides details about the lease areas, provisions and conditions, auction details, and identifies companies who can participate in the auction.
Earlier In October 2022, BOEM completed its final environmental assessment of potential impacts from offshore wind energy leasing activities in California’s Morro Bay Wind Area, expected to support 3 Gw of offshore wind capacity.
In August 2022, The California Energy Commission (CEC), the primary energy policy and planning agency for the US state of California, adopted the state's new goals of reaching 25 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2045, as well as 2 to 5 GW by 2030. The state of California also aims to reach 100% of clean electricity and carbon neutrality by 2045. At the federal level, the United States target 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 15 GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035 (only 42 MW were operational in 2021).
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