California jumpstarts 7.6GW floating wind procurement with state regulator approval
CPUC proposed a schedule for solicitations beginning in 2026, with deployment slated for between 2031 and 2037
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) finalised its strategy to enable state procurement of over 10GW of large-scale renewable energy and storage, including 7.6GW of floating wind, a milestone on the Golden State’s journey to an emissions-free grid.
At its annual meeting 22 August, utility regulator CPUC authorised the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to procure “certain long lead-time clean energy resources,” including floating wind as well as 1GW of geothermal and 2GW of long duration storage.
The authorisation implements state assembly bill 1373 to centralises procurement.
“By having one state agency procure these resources on behalf of ratepayers, California can streamline the acquisition of advanced energy resources, potentially lowering future costs for ratepayers and accelerating the development timeline for clean energy technologies,” the regulator said.
California has taken the lead in floating wind development in the US by targeting 2-5GW by 2030 and 25GW by 2045.
Federal regulator Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) sold five leases holding between 6-10GW of capacity in two wind energy areas (WEAs) off the state’s central and northern coastlines.
As the outer continental shelf along the US West Coast falls off near to shore to depths of some 1,000-metres, all offshore wind development in California will be floating.
“With this new tool, California has the opportunity to jumpstart clean energy technologies and bring them to scale,” said CPUC president Alice Reynolds.
“It reflects our unwavering commitment to a clean, diverse, reliable energy resource portfolio, matching the needs of all Californians now and into the future.”
Despite the state’s progress, development will face multiple hurdles, including unclear route-to-market.
In contrast to Northeast states driving the offshore wind ramp, such as Massachusetts and New York, California has decentralised energy procurement into multiple smaller utilities and publicly owned power aggregators that lack the scale to purchase large energy blocks.
The action by the CPUC “sends an important market signal that will help jumpstart the industry,” said Adam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California (OWC), a trade group of offshore wind developers and technology companies
CPUC’s decision proposes a schedule of solicitations with preparatory activities beginning in 2025, pre-bid activities in 2026-2027, and solicitations open for bid between 2026 and 2028 followed by review and contract awards.
Deployment is slated for between 2031 and 2037.
CPUC lays “out a predictable timeline of demand that will boost supplier confidence in the market and foster new investments into infrastructure,” said Liz Burdock, CEOof industry group Oceantic Network.
“This is a critical step towards creating a supply chain capable of meeting California's ambitious 25 GW of floating offshore wind deployment target,” she added.
The ruling doesn’t prevent floating wind projects from being developed outside the procurement process to meet the 2030 target, but this would be unlikely due to multiple hurdles.
The state lacks sufficient deepwater ports along its Central Coast and transmission off its North Coast.
The legislature in July passed a bond measure that includes $475m for offshore wind ports and $325m for clean energy transmission, but this is a fraction of what will be needed.
Developers holding leases off California include Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Equinor, Invenergy, Ocean Winds, and RWE.