California's Solar Problem Could Be Solved by Floating Wind Farms
The offshore turbines will be expensive to build but will help fill the gap after sunset.
Offshore wind turbines will buttress California’s power grid.
Photographer: DAMIEN MEYER/AFPIn its quest to decarbonize its energy, California is heading offshore. Besides being green, tapping the winds over the Pacific Ocean offers an additional benefit: Good timing.
Amanda Lefton, who runs the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, announced the first offshore wind auctions for California from the stage of the American Clean Power Association’s WindPower conference on Tuesday morning. Even if many Californians were still asleep, the crowd gathered in Providence, Rhode Island — home to the only operating offshore wind project in the US — clapped and hollered. California’s leases, targeting 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, represent almost a third of the Biden administration’s offshore wind objective for 2035.