California regulators have proposed committing to buy output from 7.6GW of offshore wind capacity in the next decade. The state's deep waters mean all offshore wind farms will have to be floating.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recommended launching three solicitation rounds for offshore wind projects beginning in 2027, with expected electricity commissioning in 2035, 2036 and 2037.
The CPUC also called for up to 1GW of enhanced geothermal systems, up to 1GW of multi-day long-duration energy storage (LDES), and up to 1GW of LDES with a discharge period of at least 12 hours.
“This proposed decision is a critical step towards creating a robust offshore wind industry that will promote California’s clean energy, reliability and economic development goals,” said Molly Croll, Pacific offshore wind director at the American Clean Power Association.
"Although we were advocating for a 10GW procurement need, we are grateful to the CPUC for recognising the potential benefits of offshore wind to the state and the scale of procurement needed for supporting infrastructure at scale and for market transformation," she added.
California aims to have 2-5GW of offshore wind online by 2030 and 25GW by 2045, which would put the state at the forefront of floating wind globally.
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