Highlight
- In 2021, cumulative installed capacity from wind totaled 6,281 megawatts (MW) in California, increasing by 5.4 percent from 2019 (5,959 MW).157 Meanwhile, the rest of the U.S. continued to add wind capacity with 12,448 MW in 2021. Total wind capacity has remained largely stagnant in California since 2013, but it continues to expand in the rest of the nation.
157 Utility-scale wind capacity includes installations of wind turbines larger than 100-kW for the purpose of the AWEA U.S. Wind Industry Quarterly Market Reports. Annual capacity additions and cumulative capacity may not always add up due to decommissioned, uprated and repowered wind turbines. Wind capacity data for each year is continuously updated as information changes.
Opportunity
- Recognizing offshore wind as a critical clean energy resource to diversify California’s in-state clean energy power mix, new planning goals of offshore wind capacity up to 3,000 - 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 and 25,000 MW by 2045 were set by the California Energy Commission (CEC) in May 2022, as adopted by Assembly Bill 525 (AB 525).158,159 Furthermore, in Sacramento, the CEC awarded a $10.5 million grant for renovations at the Port of Humboldt Bay to support offshore wind activities, as of March 2022. Once enacted, the project is expected to generate up to 4,600 MW of installed offshore wind capacity.160 An additional $45 million in funds were included in the 2022-23 budget to provide other needed upgrades for offshore wind at waterfront facilities for offshore wind, based on the Governor Newsom’s 2022-23 May Revision budget proposal.161 Although it will be several years before the first offshore wind energy is up and running in California’s power grid, it is clear the offshore wind industry will be the crucial component leading the state to a 100 percent clean energy future.
158 California Energy Commission. CEC Adopts Historic California Offshore Wind Goals, Enough to Power Upwards of 25 Million Homes. California’s 2022-23 May Revision to the Governor’s Budget. August 10, 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2022-08/cec-adopts-historic-california-offshore-wind-goals-enough-power-upwards-25
159 “AB-525: energy storage systems.” California State Legislature. Chaptered January 1, 2022. Available at: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB525
160 California Energy Commission. State Approves $10.5 Million to Prepare the Port of Humboldt Bay for Offshore Wind. March 9, 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2022-03/state-approves-105-million-prepare-port-humboldt-bay-offshore-wind.
161 “The 2022-23 Spending Plan: Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.” California Legislative Analyst’s Office. October 10, 2022. Available at: https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4633
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