CPUC should jumpstart offshore wind to meet climate goals

OPINION – The fifth largest economy in the world, California is a climate trailblazer and the first large state to set a 100% renewable energy target. Now, stakeholders and policymakers in the state must maintain our ambition and momentum to meet this target by staying on course to bring offshore wind online in the next seven to 12 years.

Scientists have confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record and slowing climate change is a global imperative. But we are approaching an inflection point where making incremental changes to our clean energy mix won’t be enough to meet growing electricity demand from California’s residents and small businesses for renewable sources of power.

Every renewable resource available must be on track to contribute to our clean energy future, including offshore wind. California took a huge step in 2022 by setting a goal of 25 GW of offshore wind, enough to power nearly 25 million homes by 2045. Last year, the state legislature passed AB 1373 to establish a central buyer for large-scale, diverse clean energy resources like offshore wind, that are challenging for any one utility or power provider to buy on its own.

The governor and the legislature continue to recognize the importance of diverse resources for electric reliability in state policy. Already this year, the California Energy Commission released its draft strategic plan for offshore wind and Governor Gavin Newsom has now appointed an offshore wind senior advisor. This spring the state’s grid operator will begin planning for new transmission based on the quantities and locations of new renewable and storage resources the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) projects will be needed in the future. All of this helps us shift from an incremental approach to resource planning to a new framework suited to California’s bold, achievable public policy goals.

But a recent proposed decision by the CPUC doesn’t plan for enough offshore wind or transmission capacity to make the state’s offshore wind objectives a reality. The proposed decision recommends planning for just 4.5 GW of offshore wind power, less than 20% of the state’s own offshore wind goal.  Building large resources like offshore wind and long-distance transmission can’t be done a little bit at a time.

And there’s no reason for incrementalism.

Offshore wind is a technology already powering communities around the world. It generates clean electricity throughout the day, every month of the year, filling in the gaps after the sun sets, during hot summer nights, and across cloudy winter months. Offshore wind promotes clean grid reliability by providing a hedge against uncertainties. While we cannot predict all challenges that will unfold over the course of the clean energy transition, we can certainly invest now in the diverse portfolio of resources we know are required.

California’s embracing of solar, energy storage, and electric vehicles proves how strategic policies and robust investments can drive down costs and allow innovative technologies to mature into mainstays of a clean energy economy.

Offshore wind helps accelerate California’s transformation to a green economy and allows more Californians to benefit from the clean energy boom. It is estimated that offshore wind can create thousands of good-paying, skilled jobs in port infrastructure construction, assembly of turbines, component manufacturing and the supply chain, and operations and maintenance.

California’s embracing of solar, energy storage, and electric vehicles proves how strategic policies and robust investments can drive down costs and allow innovative technologies to mature into mainstays of a clean energy economy.

But more needs to be done to make offshore wind a reality on the West Coast. The CPUC’s proposed decision won’t enable offshore wind to come online in time and at scale to meet the state’s long-term needs. In the coming weeks, the CPUC will meet in San Francisco to consider final approval of the proposed offshore wind decision. If revised, the CPUC could provide a more significant push to advance a renewable energy portfolio that reflects the state’s ambitious goals for resource diversity and offshore wind.

California’s five offshore wind companies are ready to do their part. The offshore wind lease areas off the central and north coasts can change the climate trajectory for the state. But the CPUC needs to embrace the state’s offshore wind goals by adopting a portfolio with 10 GW of offshore wind by 2039 to help us power millions of California homes by the end of the next decade. This would be a significant step toward achieving 100% clean energy by 2045 and equitably stabilizing the prices people and businesses pay for energy.

We cannot afford to delay the progress of California’s offshore wind future. Transformational change requires sustained commitment to achieving our clean energy future. That starts with bold action today.

Molly Croll is the Pacific Offshore Wind Director for American Clean Power Association, which represents diverse clean energy companies including the five offshore wind companies holding federal leases to construct offshore wind off the California coast.