Won’t be saving the planet until 2029
-September 30,2021
Do the math. The White House made a big announcement May 25 that the “initial areas for offshore wind development in the Pacific Ocean could bring up to 4.6 GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6 million American homes.
The Biden statement continues “More specifically, the Department of the Interior, in coordination with the Department of Defense, identified an area (“the Morro Bay 399 Area”) that will support three gigawatts(GW) of offshore wind on roughly 399 square miles off California’s central coast region, northwest of Morro Bay.”
So the federal government is opening enough of the seascape off the Morro Bay/Cambria coast to produce 3,000 megawatts of power that will have to be brought to shore by cable or pipeline to feed into the state’s bulk energy grid.
Keep in mind a key logistic fact – a massive investment by ratepayers in transmission infrastructure, high voltage power lines and substations- is already in place here – both in Morro Bay and at Diablo Canyon- that feeds electrons into the state’s biggest load centers – the major big population areas.
It is those existing transmission lines -soon both mothballed- that have put us on the offshore windpower map because they are already paid for and in place!
Sounds better for the ratepayer and good for the planet as much of the state burns and climate-influenced drought is everywhere. How might it work?
The PG&E substation at Morro Bay can handle only around 1000MW. Where will the rest be brought on shore to power all those homes in the future?
More battery storage co-located
To make that power more useful, the owner of the former power plant at Morro Bay, Vistra Energy, plans a 650MW battery storage facility right next to the substation that connects to the existing 230kw transmission lines into the Central Valley.
The current plan would be to have the facility online by the end of 2024 when the first unit of Diablo Canyon goes offline.
There is another place that power could land that could connect to the existing grid – a place where the big transmission lines can accommodate about 2,200MW- another SLO coastal location that will also soon lose a power plant. Diablo Canyon is a big energy source – about 9% of the state’s energy portfolio and it’s about to go dark.
The twin-unit nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon will be mothballed as soon as 2024/25 – but not the multi-million dollar infrastructure that connects to it -the 500kw power lines that march across the SLO County foothills to link to the big Pathway 15 transmission line that runs up and down California along I-5. Among its important functions – to feed power from the nuclear power plant that pumps drinking water from northern California over the Tehachapis into LA. In late July, the federal agency in charge of leasing of federal waters for energy production, BOEM announced “As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to creating nearly 80,000 jobs through developing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 (nationwide), the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced two actions advancing the federal wind leasing process offshore California.”
Not detailed here is BOEM’s plan for offshore wind off Humboldt where the wind blows harder but there is little existing infrastructure.
Of more interest to the Central Coast, BOEM published a Call for Information and Nominations to request information from the public and determine industry interest in commercial offshore wind energy development for two new areas within a 399-square-mile area located off central California. The new area is identified as the Morro Bay Call Area East and West Extensions. These areas are adjacent to the Morro Bay Call Area, originally identified by BOEM in 2018.
Of note- the expanded areas are each east and west of the existing call area with the eastern extension now closer- 21 miles from the Cambria shore – not 30 miles away like before.Call area expansion
The new extensions of the area where huge floating wind turbines may be sited is now 20% larger compared to the 2018 Call Area -from 311 square mile to 399 square miles. The 2018 Call Area was estimated to accommodate about 2.4GW of power. With the new additional acreage, the Biden call for 3GW can be generated.
Note that the power estimate does not call for the use of waters off of Diablo Canyon that BOEM announced in May would not be leased for now. The decision comes as apparently the Dept of Defense still has issues with opening these waters.
BOEM says “The DoD conducts offshore testing, training, and operations on the OCS offshore the central coast of California. Because the DoD testing, training, and operations off the coast of California are essential to national security, DoD played a critical role in identifying these new areas for offshore wind development.”
That does not mean the Diablo Canyon’s on-shore power infrastructure can’t be used. Indeed it must be used to make this work.
Consider that power generated off Morro Bay could be connected to Diablo Canyon by a second underwater cable in addition to a 34 mile long cable from the western extension to the Morro Bay substation. Diablo Canyon is only about another 10 miles from Morro Bay.
Another benefit of connecting to the Diablo Canyon power plant site – a developer like Vistra can build an enclosed battery storage facility here too – as they are already doing in Morro Bay – the world’s largest. Vistra has built one in Moss Landing as well.
One logical location for a battery facility – the big Diablo Canyon turbine hall, never contaminated with nuclear material and large enough to house a lithium battery plant at 207,000sf.
The building is in so-called “Parcel P” – a 600-acre industrial area at Diablo that is earmarked to remain,with buildings used for repurposing as long as each poses no danger. Also to be retained is the breakwater area where any cable connection may come in.
The PUC suggests battery storage and renewable energy projects be “co-located” to maximize stability of the grid and spread out power availability over time.
Furthering the goal of producing 3GW of renewables, AB 525 targeting Diablo Canyon,authored by Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, was just signed by the Governor recently. It requires the California Public Utilities Commission to identify a specific target of three gigawatts by 2030 for offshore wind development. “We have the grid tie-in, we’ve got space in Morro Bay where they’re potentially looking at siting the largest battery storage facility in North America. We need to seize these opportunities. Its jobs and its power we desperately need,” Cunningham said.
There is roughly $4 billion in PG&E’s decommissioning trust fund for the plant, Cunningham said. The key will be using it as soon as possible to serve as a “direct economic stimulus for the community,” he added.
Multiple leases?
One more item of interest – expanding the generation area to near 400 square miles makes it likely there may be multiple awards of the lease areas -perhaps three leases if BOEM decides so. The local favorite developer – Castle Wind/Trident says they want to deliver 1000MW only.They are lobbying BOEM for a merit point system regards the lease/ auction to include community involvement with stakeholders that Castle has targeted including the City of Morro Bay and the local fishing industry – not just the highest money bidder.BOEM spokesperson John Romero says the federal agency “will consider that. “
Save the planet?
By the way, don’t look for offshore wind to save the planet from wildfires and global warming any time soon.Castle Wind estimates the turbines won’t be spinning until 2029! They originally estimated 2025.
Besides Castle Wind, there were 13 other developers who expressed interest in the project in 2018 and now this round, several more have surfaced.
In a regulatory filing, energy companies Shell Oil and BP as well as RWE Renewables and Total Energies expressed new interest submitting their request in the September comment period that has now closed. BOEM is targeting fall of 2022 to sign a lease, says spokesman Romero.
Here is one more nugget to chew on. Using the existing infrastructure on the Central Coast could accommodate more than 3GW according to one estimate that suggests we could handle 5GW!
Despite all this potential – there is doubt out there. One Morro Bay fisherman commented to BOEM “I am a 48 year central California commercial fisherman. The ocean is not a place to be industrialized. The size and scope of these wind farm projects is very disturbing. I really wish you would reconsider. Thank you, Robert R Maharry owner/operator fishing vessel Migrator. “
captions:
Infrastructure plays a key role in plans for offshore wind
map: how transmission lines connect to statewide grid
map of expanded call area includes some areas closer to shore