STATEMENT: California Energy Commission adopts strategic plan for offshore wind development

SACRAMENTO, Calif — In a 3-0 vote, the California Energy Commission (CEC) on Wednesday adopted the Assembly Bill 525 Offshore Wind Strategic Plan, which provides a critical roadmap for responsibly developing offshore wind turbines while also understanding the impacts to California’s biodiversity, workforce, and local communities.

Former Assemblymember David Chiu’s AB 525  passed into law in 2021 and was sponsored by Environment California.The bill requires the CEC to coordinate with relevant state agencies to develop a strategic plan for offshore wind energy projects installed off our coastline. The draft AB 525 Strategic Plan was released in January 2024, and now that the draft plan is finalized, it will be submitted to the state legislature and the California Natural Resources Agency to guide the state’s planning and implementation of offshore wind development.

In 2022 California established an ambitious goal to power more than 25 million homes with renewable offshore wind energy by 2045. Wind turbines, along with solar panels and batteries to store excess energy, will be key for transitioning away from fossil fuels that pollute our air, water and land. The strategic plan outlines hurdles and opportunities to harness these strong, consistent winds for renewable energy, and suggests next steps to promote offshore wind development. For example, the plan identifies which of California’s ports are able to accommodate different activities to support offshore wind development, and estimates that an investment of $11-12 billion is required to upgrade existing port infrastructure to meet our 2045 offshore wind goal.

In response, Steven King, Environment California’s clean energy advocate, released the following statement:

“This strategic plan is a great step forward for California to go big on offshore wind. Leveraging this abundant renewable resource far off our coastline is one thing, but doing it sustainably with minimal environmental impact is an even taller task. Luckily, the CEC’s newly adopted plan points us in the right direction. For years, we’ve known where we want to go: 25 million homes powered by offshore wind energy. Now, we know how we’re going to get there.”