Wind Energy Comes To The California Coast

Wind energy has existed in California for a long time. In the early 1980s, a large number of wind farms were built in places like Kern County, the San Gorgonio Pass, and the Altamont Pass in response to federal tax incentives. Despite this early boom, California’s wind generation capacity didn’t grow much for over twenty years. Wind energy generation in California started growing again in the mid-2000s, jumping from production of 3,500 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2001 to 5,600 GWh by 2007. However, the real boom in wind energy generation didn’t start until 2011 when California’s regulated utilities started purchasing renewable energy in greater quantities in response to the state’s new Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). In 2011, California used 7,752 GWh of wind energy. Since then, wind energy generation capacity in California has steadily increased with wind energy now representing more than 6.5 percent the state’s electricity generation. California used 13,650 GWh of wind energy in 2018.

While California produces substantially more wind energy than it did ten years ago, the construction of new wind energy projects has slowed. There are several reasons for this. First, California’s electric utilities have made good progress in meeting the RPS goals and no longer need to purchase renewable energy at the frantic pace they did earlier in the decade. Also, much of the available land in the areas with the best commercial wind energy potential has already been exploited for wind energy generation, requiring developers to seek out locations in other parts of the state. To access wind energy in some areas would require the construction of long transmission lines to deliver the energy to consumers. To avoid major transmission upgrades, some utilities prefer to purchase renewable energy from smaller projects that can easily connect to the existing transmission system.

One area with significant potential for wind energy production is the California coast, particularly offshore. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, there are large areas along the California coast with “Good” to “Superb” potential for wind energy generation. However, coastal wind projects face many challenges, including opposition from local jurisdictions, ocean advocates, and environmental groups. To date, California’s coastal wind resources have not been exploited as a source for renewable energy.

Although the state has no offshore wind energy production, wind energy will soon be generated on California coastal land for the first time. The County of Santa Barbara recently approved the Strauss Wind Energy Project in the coastal mountains near Point Conception. The approved project includes 29 wind turbine generators capable of producing up to 98.14 megawatts of electricity. When in operation, the Strauss Wind Energy Project will effectively double the county’s renewable energy production. The project is controversial for the same reasons many wind energy projects draw opposition, including the visual impact of large wind turbines, noise impacts on neighbors, and adverse impacts on bird and bat populations. Aspen provided technical assistance to the County for the preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR) for the Strauss Wind Energy Project. Particular attention was given to impacts on biological resources, including birds, bats, oak woodland, and the endangered Gaviota tar plant, which inhabits a large portion of the site. The EIR formulated robust mitigation strategies for these sensitive resources, including implementation of avoidance strategies, conservation easements, and an adaptive management program. The project area also contains sensitive cultural and tribal resources, requiring extensive field surveys and coordination with the local tribal government. These and other issues prompted individuals and various agencies and organizations to submit hundreds of comments on the EIR. The County decided to approve a modified version of the project that was a combination of two alternatives analyzed in the EIR.

Aspen is one of the most experienced firms in California in analyzing wind energy projects and has prepared EIRs for some of the state’s largest wind energy facilities. In total, Aspen has analyzed wind energy projects with a combined capacity of over 8,000 megawatts.