The Northern Chumash Tribal Council and Morro Bay offshore wind leaseholders reached a preliminary agreement that could help wind-energy development off the central coast of California. The agreement, reached in April, would allow for a phased approach to the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS) that would allow offshore wind projects connect to the onshore power grid. The agreement could help the Biden administration both finalize the proposed sanctuary before the 2024 election and promote its offshore wind energy goals.
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary
The Northern Chumash Tribal Council proposed the CHNMS in 2015, and the NOAA began the designation process in 2021. The sanctuary would cover 134 miles of coastline from Montaña de Oro State Park in San Luis Obispo County to Naples, California, along the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County and would encompass 5,617 square miles of water. The CHNMS, however, conflicts with the Morro Bay wind lease areas, which are at the northern boundary of the proposed sanctuary area.
Under the preliminary agreement, the northern boundary of the CHNMS would initially be located south of Diablo Canyon, and north of Port San Luis and Avila Beach. The CHNMS boundary would later expand to connect to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This phased approach would allow for both the establishment of the marine sanctuary and for the continued development of offshore wind in the area.
This phased approach is meant to “foster this compatibility with environmentally sound offshore wind development and operation,” according to an agreement letter. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which last year proposed to remove permanently from the sanctuary an area that would allow developers to lay power lines on the seafloor, is expected to designate the area by mid-2024.
Offshore Wind in Morro Bay
As early as 2016, developers viewed Morro Bay as a possible area for offshore wind, as it is one of only two areas where offshore developers can connect cables to the power grid. In 2019, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) identified Humboldt, Morro Bay, and Diablo Canyon as three possible offshore wind energy areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off the California coast.
In 2021, the Biden administration outlined its initiatives for a national goal of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. In May 2022, the administration issued a proposed offshore wind lease sale off the California coast for the Humboldt, Morro Bay, and Diablo Canyon wind energy areas. (see Offshore Wind Makes Initial Advancements in California.)
In December 2022, the administration auctioned three leases in the Morro Bay WEA, which covers approximately 240,898 acres (376 square miles) that could supply up to 3 GW of electricity. Equinor Wind US, LLC, Golden State Wind LLC, and Invenergy California Offshore LLC are the leaseholders for the three sites. The developments will install 1,000-foot-tall floating turbines anchored to the sea floor by cables located 20 to 30 miles off the coast.