How should Central Coast build out its ports to become a wind energy and space hub?
Central Coast government officials want the region to become a green energy and commercial space hub, and a newly commissioned REACH study aims to find out if, and how, it can be accomplished.
The nonprofit’s study, funded by the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara as well as the city of Morro Bay, will examine the coastline to determine the waterfront infrastructure capabilities and needs to support the potential offshore wind energy development and growing private space launch opportunities.
The two counties each contributed $100,000 to the study, while Morro Bay contributed $50,000. The study is set to begin in June and be completed by the end of the fall, according to Joshua Boswell, vice president of policy and economic development for REACH.
Announcement of the waterfront infrastructure study comes right as the federal government announced the potential lease sale framework for the two offshore wind energy areas off California’s coast: Humboldt and Morro Bay. The proposed sale notice released on Thursday outlined $8 million starting bids for the Morro Bay wind energy leases and requirements for companies to work with local fishing industries, among other things.
“We know there is infrastructure along our coastline — we just need to know where it is and if it can be built out to support this massive development,” said Dawn Ortiz-Legg, District 3 San Luis Obispo County supervisor. “And the companies also need to know this when they’re making their bids for the offshore wind development.”
Joan Hartmann, District 3 supervisor for Santa Barbara County, said the study could provide the local governments with the knowledge and tools they need to secure key infrastructure funding from the federal government to support building ports for offshore wind energy and commercial space developments.
“It’s a regional effort. We’re all working together on this,” Hartmann said. “I’m delighted and excited about this.”
REACH CEO Melissa James said the study will be fairly rudimentary, while providing the Central Coast with a clear understanding of what is and is not possible, physically, along the coastline.
She noted that one, huge port to support all of the assembly, operations, maintenance and other needs of the two industries likely is not feasible here. For one, California does not have the infrastructure at the ready to support developing out the offshore wind industry, James said.
“The best practices we’re seeing come forward are really a network, or a collection, of different ports that are for different activities to support the industry,” she said. “We hope the study will tell us what components exist, what don’t and the potential for where the Central Coast can play in supporting the industry.”
Further, James noted there are four key components necessary to ensure the offshore wind industry is able to successfully develop and bring economic benefits to the Central Coast.
“You need the place that you’re going to develop the wind farms — we have that. You need the transmission infrastructure to bring the electricity to the grid — we have that in both Morro Bay and Diablo. A workforce, we have a workforce transitioning out of fossil fuels, maybe nuclear into renewable energy,” she said. “And then you need port infrastructure. That’s the last question we need to ask for the Central Coast.”
It’s important to not just focus on the offshore wind industry potential, Boswell added.
The growing private commercial space industry could find a home along the Central Coast at Vandenberg Space Force Base, he said. But that potential likely cannot be realized until the base or surrounding ports have the necessary infrastructure to support it, Boswell said.
“What role does the Central Coast play in this renewable energy future, in this emerging global space economy?” he asked. “We have some key assets. We know there’s a real opportunity from a jobs perspective. But it’s really up to us to be able to start to bring some of that evidence to bear so that we can create some of that enabling infrastructure and capture some of those opportunities.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 10:28 AM with the headline "How should Central Coast build out its ports to become a wind energy and space hub?."
