Port San Luis, CET to Assess Offshore Wind O&M Port Potential in California

July 25, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The US Port San Luis Harbor District has entered into a project evaluation agreement with Clean Energy Terminals (CET), a developer of offshore wind port facilities across the US, to jointly evaluate the feasibility of an offshore wind operations and maintenance (O&M) port facility in California’s San Luis Obispo Bay.

Project evaluation is expected to take between six and 18 months, with the development of an O&M facility taking six to eight years in total, subject to permitting and the timing of California’s offshore wind projects.

If an O&M facility, which could be utilised by multiple projects located in federal waters off California’s Central Coast, is found to be feasible, the agreement also sets out a pathway for parties to negotiate a lease option and subsequent long-term lease for the project’s development and operations.

“Today’s announcement is Day 1 of a thoughtful and thorough evaluation of the feasibility of an O&M port in San Luis Obispo Bay, and if feasible, what a facility could look and feel like,” said Bob Vessely, Port San Luis Harbor Commission President.

“This process will include meaningful engagement with local communities, including residents of Avila Beach, local Tribal governments which have a deep historic association with the Bay, local advisory groups such as the Avila Valley Advisory Council, the commercial fishing community here in Port San Luis and in the region more broadly, and other local ocean users like the Surfrider Foundation.”

Recent port studies and public feedback have suggested that larger offshore wind-related port facilities, such as the staging and integration ports under development in Humboldt Bay and Long Beach, are not well-suited to the Central Coast, according to the port.

Instead, smaller facilities such as O&M ports, which are typically no more than 5 acres in size and support vessels that come into port approximately once every other week, could be a good fit for the region.

According to an Oceantic Network report released in 2023, the US needs to invest at least USD 36 billion in new and upgraded offshore wind port infrastructure over the next ten years across approximately 100 port facilities.

The Californian Energy Commission (CEC) estimates that between USD 11 billion and USD 12 billion is required to upgrade port infrastructure across California to meet the state’s 25 GW by 2045 offshore wind goal.

Port San Luis has been identified by multiple independent studies as a high-potential location for O&M facilities, according to the press release.

If built, an O&M port facility could create a long-term link between the projects off California’s Central Coast and the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County communities.

California already has five offshore wind projects under development which are expected to go into operation by the mid-2030s, following the lease sale in 2022, the first in the US to allocate offshore areas for floating wind projects.

RWE and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) won development rights for one lease area each in the Humboldt Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA). Equinor, Ocean Winds, and Invenergy secured a lease area in the Morro Bay WEA.

The total capacity of the five areas estimated by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was 4.5 GW, however, as the wind energy generation technology is advancing, the developers have revealed their projects may have much higher nameplate capacities.

When it comes to Clean Energy Terminals, the startup port developer recently received a USD 50 million capital pledge from a zero-emissions investor Homecoming Capital.