By Ramona du Houx
This winter the Port of Long Beach proposed the Pier Wind facility specifically designed to accommodate the assembly of floating offshore wind turbines would span up to 400 acres of newly built land, located southwest of the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge within the Harbor District. The Port of Long Beach is the second-busiest container seaport in the United States.
The terminal includes heavy-lift wharves that would support large cranes to receive and handle large offshore wind components.
When completed, the fully assembled floating wind turbines would be towed by sea from the port to the offshore wind farms located more than 20 miles from the coast in federal waters in Central and Northern California, where the wind is consistently strong.
Last December, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) selected the winners of California’s first offshore wind lease sale. RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, Equinor Wind US, Invenergy California Offshore, California North Floating (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), and Central California Offshore Wind (Ocean Winds) won the rights to develop floating wind projects across five lease areas in Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay, off the northern and central coasts of California, respectively. The five areas have an installation capacity of around 4.5 GW.
”Creating resilient and clean energy is critical to the future of our planet, and it’s essential to the Port of Long Beach as we pursue our Clean Air Action Plan goals of zero-emissions cargo handling by 2030 and drayage trucks by 2035,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero. ”As the Green Port, we welcome the sense of urgency which elevates California to the forefront of floating offshore wind innovation and development supporting projects that will generate 4.5 gigawatts of electricity – which translates to providing electric power to more than 1.5 million homes.”
California’s floating offshore wind goal is to produce 25 GW of offshore wind power by 2045. The state needs offshore wind power to meet its renewable energy goals for zero-emissions technologies coming online.
A conceptual design and assessment is scheduled for completion this year as the port said it seeks funding from state and federal sources to support Pier Wind.
