Pacific Ocean Windpower Coming On

California tries to capture offshore wind energy; Proposal off Morro Bay looks for approval

Rob Nikolewski, June 16, 2016 (San Diego Union-Tribune)

"…[Offshore wind, already richly developed and growing in Europe, is beginning to face the technological, economic, and political challenges on the Pacific coast…Trident Winds LLC, has applied for a lease to construct an offshore facility in California…that would dwarf offshore sites proposed along the East Coast or the Great Lakes…The company is targeting 2025 as its startup date…That's nine years beyond the expected debut this fall of the country's first offshore wind project, the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island…[The Golden State lags behind because of the Pacific Ocean’s] underwater terrain…[T]he West Coast's continental shelf plunges quickly and steeply…[making largely still-unproven floating wind farms the only option. Floating] wind projects are tethered, or moored, by cables to the ocean floor…Trident Winds plans to build a floating array of about 100 [2 to 3 MW turbines 33 nautical miles off Morro Bay]...One transmission cable running along the seafloor would send electricity to the shore…Trident sees its flotilla of turbines eventually growing to a net capacity of 1,000 MW…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet