Equinor wins commercial-scale offshore wind lease in California
Five leases were offered by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on the US west coast and the first-ever US sale to support commercial-scale floating offshore wind energy development opportunities, according to Equinor's release. With a bid of USD 130 million for 80.062 acres in the Pacific Ocean, Equinor secured a ~2-gigawatt (GW) lease in the Morro Bay area that has the potential to generate enough energy to power ~750 000 US homes.
About two-thirds of America’s offshore wind energy potential is in deep waters. The narrow outer continental shelf running along the Pacific seaboard, drops down swiftly to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) or more, opening up for new power opportunities for the west coast – floating offshore wind.
Following regulatory approvals, the new lease will be added to Equinor’s existing US portfolio – which includes the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects on the US Northeast coast – and has the potential to generate a total capacity of at least 2 GW of renewable power for the West Coast.
The Biden administration has set an offshore wind target of 30 GW by 2030 and 15 GW by 2035 in floating offshore wind capacity, that is well above 100 times more than what’s currently installed in floating around the world. The administration’s offshore wind target is complemented by state offshore wind policies and actions throughout the North Pacific. California has set an offshore wind target of up to 5 GW by 2030 and 25 GW floating offshore wind by 2045.
