California isn’t letting President Trump’s moratorium on offshore wind stop them from becoming a “powerhouse” for the renewable energy source.
At the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit last month, state elected officials and industry leaders expressed their continued support for offshore wind production in California, despite the Trump administration pausing all future offshore wind leases in the outer continental shelf of the US, which includes parts of the Pacific Ocean. The state currently has two offshore wind energy areas under development—Humboldt, in northern California, and Morro Bay, in central California. The goal is to produce as much as 5 GW of energy via offshore wind by 2030 and up to 25 GW by 2045.
“California has the opportunity to become a powerhouse for offshore wind,” State Assemblymember Rick Zbur said at the conference, per a press release. “We need to continue focusing on our port infrastructure for offshore wind, right now.”
The state voted in favor of a $10 billion bond last November to support California’s continued transition to renewable energy, and $475 million of that funding will go toward offshore wind port infrastructure. At the conference, the California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said the state is working to deploy that lump sum.
“California is fully committed to getting to 100% clean energy and offshore wind has an important role to play in that effort,” he said.
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California is one of 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that sued the Trump administration for its offshore wind lease executive order, arguing that “no act of Congress authorizes the president or federal agencies to categorically and indefinitely halt approvals of wind-energy projects,” and that the executive order jeopardizes “the continued development of a power source critical to the states’ economic vitality, energy mix, public health, and climate goals,” among other arguments.
“The Trump administration’s directive to halt the development of offshore wind energy is illegal,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. “We will continue to hold the president accountable for breaking the law and protect our significant progress in expanding cleaner, cheaper energy for American families.”
As a result of the executive order, Executive Director for Offshore Wind California Adam Stern said at the conference that a majority of offshore wind progress is being made “at the state level.”
“Over the next four years, California has much of what it needs to continue moving forward—on ports, transmission, and more,” Stern said. “That’s a course we intend to stay.”