The US Department of the Interior has announced the next steps for and welcomed public comment on offshore wind lease sales in two regions on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore California. This is the first-ever offshore wind lease sale proposed on America’s west coast.
The Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) includes three proposed lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area off central California and two proposed lease areas in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area off northern California, totalling approximately 373,268 acres that have the potential to unlock over 4.5GW of offshore wind energy. The PSN, which will publish in the Federal Register on May 31, 2022, opens a 60-day public comment period and provides detailed information about the proposed lease areas, proposed lease provisions and conditions, and auction details. Comments received by the end of the public comment period will be made available on the BOEM California webpage and considered before deciding whether to publish a final sale notice, which would then announce the time and date of the lease sale, as well as list the companies qualified to participate in it.