The blitz of executive orders issued by the new Trump Administration included a directive that raises questions whether massive amounts of anticipated electric generation from still-to-be-constructed offshore wind projects off California’s coast will eventually flow into the state’s power grid.
President Donald Trump on his first day in office Jan. 20 issued a review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for all wind energy projects in the U.S. and a temporary withdrawal of all areas on the outer Continental Shelf from offshore wind leasing.
The executive order has companies that already acquired leases to develop offshore wind farms wondering whether it amounts to just a bump in the road or something more dire.
“We’re still looking at potential impacts of the directive, but are sorry to see an American energy source targeted that’s capable of delivering power at the scale this country needs moving forward,” Molly Croll, Pacific offshore wind director for American Clean Power-California, said in an email to the Union-Tribune.
American Clean Power-California is a trade group that represents all of the state’s offshore wind leaseholders.
The directive has also left California policymakers wondering what happens next.
“We are currently reviewing recent executive actions and working with our federal counterparts to receive clarity,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley said in an email. “While this is a fluid situation, we remain confident in our ability to continue serving Californians.”
Offshore wind in California
Wind farms on land are a familiar sight across the country, with blades atop towers turning like pinwheels above prairies, deserts and ridge lines.
Drivers along Interstate 8 can’t miss the Tule Wind Farm rising over the McCain Valley in East County. Farther east, the Ocotillo Wind project covers 12,500 acres in the Imperial Valley.
But a bigger prize looms offshore.
Ocean winds blow steadier and stronger than breezes on land and states like California that are keen to add renewable energy resources to their power grids have taken steps to imitate European countries such as Denmark and the United Kingdom, which erected wind turbines offshore years ago.
California dipped its toe into the water in December 2022, when five offshore leases were approved through an auction conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The five companies collectively bid $751.1 million to win the leases that each cover tens of thousands of acres.
Three wind farms plan to be built off the coast of Morro Bay in Central California and two in Humboldt County in Northern California. The projects would be at least 20 miles offshore, waters that come under federal jurisdiction.
There are no plans to develop offshore wind projects in San Diego and Southern California. Wind speeds in the south are not as steady and strong as those in Central and Northern California.
Also, military officials, in discussions with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, designated Southern California a “wind exclusion” area because they worry that offshore wind facilities would interfere with training missions.
What wind means for California’s climate targets
Building out the nascent offshore wind industry is considered a cornerstone to help California reach its goal to derive 100% of the state’s electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045, if not sooner.
California energy officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom have set goals for offshore wind to generate as much as 5 gigawatts of power by 2030 and 25 gigawatts by 2045. For perspective, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo produces 2.2 gigawatts of capacity, which accounts for about 9 percent of the state’s power mix each year.
“I see (offshore wind) as a fundamental piece of our energy policy over the next 30 years in California,” David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission told the Union-Tribune during a wind energy conference in San Diego in late 2023.
But unlike the East Coast, where turbines can be bolted into the seabed, the continental shelf off the coast of the Pacific plunges steeply.
That means offshore wind farms in California will float on the water’s surface, tethered or moored by cables to the ocean floor. Electricity generated by turbines will be transmitted to a floating substation and carried to a power plant onshore via buried cables.
California will be the first region in the U.S. to use floating wind turbines.
The five companies that won leases in the Morro Bay and Humboldt County areas are still in the early stages of developing their projects.
While final designs are still to be submitted, each turbine will soar as high as a 70-story building, with blades larger than a football field to harvest the maximum amount of wind. At a distance of at least 20 miles, the towers, the California Energy Commission says, are “not expected to be highly visible” from the shore.
“California is looking to offshore wind as an important element in the diverse long-term energy portfolio needed to keep the lights on and the economy thriving,” said Michael Brown, CEO of Ocean Winds North America, a partner in one of the Morro Bay projects called Golden State Wind.
Brown said, “we will keep on finding a path forward in coordination with all relevant authorities.”
The wording of Trump’s executive order underscored the uncertainty.
On one hand, it said “nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases.”
But it also directed the secretary of the Department of the Interior, in consultation with the U.S. Attorney General, to conduct a “comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending” existing wind energy leases.
The report, with recommendations, would then be sent to the White House. No deadline was mentioned as to when the review is due.
The president’s antipathy for wind power precedes his time in the White House.
Starting in 2006, Trump spent a decade trying to block an 11-turbine wind farm off the coast of Scotland within sight of a golf course he built. He lost the case and was ordered to pay the equivalent of nearly $300,000 in legal bills.
After signing the executive order on Jan. 20, Trump told supporters that evening at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., “We are not going to do the wind thing. Big ugly windmills, they ruin your neighborhood.”
Some groups are happy
The executive order was hailed by offshore wind opponents, such as the REACT Alliance, a nonprofit based in San Luis Obispo that counts more than 700 members since its founding in November 2023.
“We would like to thank President Trump for taking such a decisive stance on stopping the proliferation of offshore wind in the U.S.,” the group said in a statement. “The halting of all new offshore wind permits will have a significant impact on the future of the industry in California and will make the costly onshore buildout for the extensive plans for new leases by our governor obsolete and absurd.”
The REACT Alliance criticizes constructing and operating large numbers of floating turbines in a 376-square-mile area of Morro Bay. Among their list of concerns, they cite environmental issues such as blades striking and killing migratory birds, concerns that mooring lines will corrode in saltwater and entangle marine life, plus the effects that sound emanating from installations will have on whales.
“We here in California are essentially the guinea pigs for this technology,” said Nicole Dorfman, secretary of the REACT Alliance.
A pair of organizations of commercial fishermen around Morro Bay have also filed lawsuits to try to stop the projects, fearing they will disrupt the region’s fishing industry and marine habitats.
Supporters of offshore wind say development in California will protect the environment and the communities around the facilities.
“Every project is subject to public comment and rigorous review at all levels of government to ensure these projects safely deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to California, and our country,” Croll of American Clean Power-California said.
And backers say that while floating offshore wind may be new to the U.S., the technology is up and running in Europe.
Golden State Wind’s website points out that its Ocean Winds partner operates the 25-megawatt WindFloat Atlantic facility off the coast of Portugal, is constructing a 30-megawatt project in France, and plans to build floating offshore projects in Korea, the United Kingdom and other sites in the U.S.
The five leases awarded thus far in California are estimated to generate enough carbon-free electricity to power 1.5 million homes.
“Offshore wind is critical to California’s energy future because it can deliver massive amounts of carbon-free power in the evening when ocean winds blow strongest,” Croll said, “complementing the state’s abundance of daytime solar.”
Should the state develop 25 gigawatts of capacity from offshore wind, the energy commission estimates that would provide about 13% of California’s electricity.
