Why Offshore Wind?
Written by Susan Lee
Climate Change is Real and Dangerous
The impacts of climate change have become increasingly clear. The following issues are well-documented in scientific literature:
Average global temperatures are increasing and extreme high-temperature events are more frequent. For example, July 22, 2024 was the hottest day the world has seen since 1940, 2023 was the hottest year in record, and the 10 warmest years on record have all been in the past decade. Droughts are more frequent and long-lasting, affecting vulnerable populations, agriculture, forestry, water availability, and biodiversity. Sea level rise and coastal flooding has resulted from warming oceans, affecting coastal communities and infrastructure around the world.
We’re seeing world-wide direct effects on human health, with increased mortality from increased heat, wildfires and wildfire smoke, extreme weather events, and workplace heat exposure. The most severe health effects due to climate risks hit the most vulnerable populations, aging populations with reduced mobility, and those required to migrate due to drought.
Storms (including hurricanes) are increasingly severe, with extreme rainfall and more frequent and dangerous flooding events. Wildfires have increased in size and severity.
The marine environment is changing due to increasing sea surface, ocean acidification, shifts in currents and wind patterns, changing distribution of fish and marine mammals. Hundreds of bird species face loss of their range and extinction.
Loss of sea ice due to warming temperatures is affecting the range and extinction of many marine and terrestrial species.
Reducing the Speed of Climate Change Requires a Transition to 100% Clean Energy – Including Offshore Wind
California’s Senate Bill 100 (SB 100, De León)[1] is titled “The 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018.” SB 100 sets a 2045 goal of powering all retail electricity sold in California and state agency electricity needs with renewable and zero-carbon resources (like wind and solar energy) that do not emit climate-altering greenhouse gases.
Why is Offshore Wind an Essential Component of the Clean Energy Transition? Offshore wind will diversify our supply of clean electricity, bringing a more constant and reliable supply through each day, month, and year to balance the variable supply from onshore renewable electricity sources. Offshore wind blows hard and steadily, so it’s a huge resource, providing a potentially large component of the clean energy we need. Also, it blows counter-cyclically to California’s daily electricity demand pattern, so it gives us renewable power when the sun isn’t shining, which could replace gas-fired generation at night. In addition, offshore wind will create a coastal industry with essential new jobs and coastal industrial development that will allow infrastructure growth in areas where unemployment is high.
The development of more solar and onshore wind is also important, but these technologies are very land-intensive, requiring approximately 7,000 acres to generate 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) of electricity. As a result, these facilities are extensive and can be highly visible affecting nearby populations. They may also result in the loss of biological and cultural resources, as well as the potential loss of agricultural production.
What About the Impacts of Offshore Wind Projects?
It should be noted that there will be impacts associated with offshore wind projects. The proposed floating wind turbines for offshore generation are huge: they may be over 1,000 feet tall with foundations the size of a baseball diamond. They require cabled mooring systems, electrical collection lines, electrical cables to shore, maintenance vessels, and extensive expansion of onshore electric transmission systems. They will create marine obstructions that may affect access to fisheries, birds and bats, marine mammals (whales, etc.), and their presence could even affect localized ocean currents and upwellings. They will be visible from shore in some areas. How can these impacts be acceptable?
In answering the above question one needs to consider the tradeoffs. Scientists predict that ocean impacts will be more severe if we don’t reduce the pace of climate change by developing offshore wind energy. These impacts are already visible. We are seeing ocean warming as a result of warmer air temperatures, and the acidity of the ocean is increasing as a result of its absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere. Rising ocean temperatures result in the ocean having lower oxygen levels to support marine life. These physical and chemical changes to the ocean are already resulting in the loss of marine and coastal ecosystems, like coral reefs and mangroves. The distribution of marine species is changing, as marine species are shifting northward and to deeper waters. This movement of fish species to different areas affects commercial and subsistence fisheries. Marine mammals have died as a result of marine heat waves that affected fisheries, and from harmful algal blooms.
Conclusion
If we agree with the scientific community that climate change is a serious risk to our planet and a transition to cleaner energy is the way to minimize the serious impacts, then offshore wind should be a major component of our renewable energy portfolio. While it has the potential to create marine impacts, the effects associated with continued climate change would be much more devastating and deadly.