Summary of Schatz Energy Research Center Webinar — Exploring the Feasibility of Offshore Wind Energy for the California North Coast: Energy Production and Delivery, and Economic Development
On September 14, the Schatz Energy Research Center, affiliated with Humboldt State University, kicked off its five-part webinar workshop series “Exploring the Feasibility of Offshore Wind Energy for the California North Coast,” with the first webinar focusing on energy production and delivery, and economic development. This unique webinar series works to not only share the findings of the Schatz Center’s recently published offshore wind reports, but also aims to facilitate a community-based discussion regarding the future of offshore wind in Humboldt County and the general north coast.
Currently, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has designated a wind call area off the coast of Humboldt that will eventually be leased through a competitive auction. While it will likely be several years before any offshore wind farm exists off the northern California coast, all nine webinar panelists spanning a wide range of disciplines and functions in offshore wind development seemed incredibly hopeful and excited about the future of the industry.
Arne Jacobson, Director of the Schatz Energy Research Center, presented on the offshore wind energy resource potential and market landscape in northern California. According to the Schatz Center’s feasibility studies, the north coast of California and southern Oregon have the strongest offshore winds in the continental United States; one 200 square mile area off the coast of Humboldt Bay could produce 4% of the entire state’s electricity. The Schatz Center conducted feasibility assessments using three floating offshore wind farm scenarios: a 50 MW pilot farm, 150 MW commercial farm, and 1800 MW large-scale commercial farm. Each farm could produce 25%, 75%, and 9 times the amount of local electricity required for Humboldt County, respectively. While this energy potential is enormous, Jacobson acknowledged multiple technological and regulatory barriers that must be overcome to bring offshore wind to fruition. One main issue is the necessity of floating offshore wind turbines. West coast waters require the use of floating turbines due to water depth, and floating offshore wind technology is underdeveloped compared to fixed-bottom offshore wind — globally, there are only two floating offshore wind farms, operating in Scotland and Portugal.
Mark Severy of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory followed Jacobson’s presentation by discussing the transmission challenges Humboldt County faces when considering integration of offshore wind energy. Humboldt County’s transmission system was not originally developed for a large electricity capacity outside of local needs. Regardless of the scale of the offshore wind farm deployed in the Humboldt call area, major transmission line upgrades would be required in order to accommodate the increase in load and electrical export, and ensure safety and redundancy. The cost of transmission upgrades would be disproportionately high for small offshore wind farms (50 MW) compared to large-scale commercial farms (1800 MW) due to economies of scale. All scales of offshore wind farms were found to create thousands of jobs, which was a recurring question topic in the community discussion. Severy concluded by emphasizing the need for strategies that would limit some of the transmission costs for the first offshore project developed in Humboldt.
According to the Schatz reports, an 1800 MW offshore wind farm would produce an incredibly large amount of curtailed energy — when asked by a CHBC fellow if electrolysis has been considered to convert that curtailed energy into green hydrogen, Jacobson responded saying hydrogen was not considered in their current analyses; however, he stated there have been preliminary discussions about the future of offshore wind to hydrogen in California, mainly to contribute to California’s hydrogen transportation sector.
Additional panelists included: Karen Douglas, California Energy Commissioner; Necy Sumait, Chief of Renewable Energy, Pacific Region, at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management; Jason Ramos, Tribal Council Vice Chair and Deputy Tribal Administrator of Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe of CA; Matthew Marshall, Executive Director of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority; Donna Wright, President of the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce; Marco Rios, Manager of Transmission System Planning for Pacific Gas & Electric; and Neil Raffan, Regulatory Analyst for California Public Utilities Commission. All panelists were prompted with questions from webinar participants, many of which focused on the local economic gain from offshore wind development in Humboldt County.
Find the Schatz Energy Research Center’s offshore wind feasibility reports here: http://schatzcenter.org/publications/
The next webinar in the five-part series will be on Monday, September 21, from 2:00-4:00 PM PT: https://humboldtstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oOXSGNj2RJidWv8IzSejsg