In 2021 Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 525 (Chiu) requiring the California Energy Commission (CEC) to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity of offshore wind (OSW) to achieve reliability, ratepayer, employment, and decarbonization benefits, and to establish OSW planning goals for 2030 and 2045, and to perform other assessment and planning tasks needed to support OSW wind development in federal waters off the California coast. AB 525 also required the CEC, in coordination with other state agencies, to develop a strategic plan for OSW development for submission to the California Natural Resources Agency and to the Legislature. After extensive agency and stakeholder consultation and hearings, the CEC has approved by Resolution and issued its final AB Offshore Wind Energy Strategic Plan.
The strategic plan identifies suitable sea space to accommodate California’s offshore wind planning goals, discusses economic and workforce development, addresses port space and infrastructure, and assesses needed transmission investments, upgrades, and associated costs. The plan describes federal and state permitting processes, and identifies potential impacts on coastal resources, fisheries, Native American and Indigenous peoples, underserved communities and national defense, as well as potential strategies for avoidance, minimization, monitoring, mitigation and adaptive management of potential negative impacts.
The report finds that OSW energy is “poised to play an important role in diversifying the state’s portfolio or resources as it complements the generation attributes of other clean energy resources” and that OSW “can support grid reliability and help California achieve its 100 percent renewable and zero-carbon energy goals, as well as the electrification of other sectors, such as transportation.”
The report is just one step in what will be a long-term, multi-jurisdictional effort to enable the development and interconnection of OSW resources within the timeframe contemplated in AB 525. Related regulatory and planning activities at the California Public Utilities Commission and California Independent System Operator, as well as implementation of AB 1373, which enables procurement of long lead-time resource procurement by the California Department of Water Resources, are ongoing.
Contact: Brian Biering, Lynn Haug
