California Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham has called on the U.S. Interior Department’s Acting Secretary David Bernhardt to lease parts of the state’s coastline for offshore wind development.
In his letter, Cunningham explained that due to the expected closing of San Luis Obispo County’s largest private employer, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, in 2025, around 1,500 head-of-household jobs would be lost.
The closure will bring California to lose 9% of its energy production, making it difficult to reach its renewable energy goals, Cunningham emphasized.
“That is why the potential for offshore wind development is so critical to California. It could offset some of the lost energy production from the Diablo Canyon closure,” Cunningham wrote.
According to the state’s assembly member, Central Coast wind farms could be connected into the existing energy transmission infrastructure at Diablo Canyon or Morro Bay and transmit power to the state grid.
To remind, in September last year California committed to achieving a 100% renewable energy target by the end of 2045.
A month later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a Call for Information and Nominations to identify companies interested in commercial wind energy leases within three proposed areas off central and northern California.
At the end of 2018, the Morro Bay City Council approved an exclusive Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) to support the development of the planned 1GW Castle Wind floating wind project.